An Eternal Life
by Jess S1
Summary: How might Bella Swan and Edward Cullen’s relationship have played out if she hadn’t been just a human, but actually a pre-Immortal?
1. Prologue: First Death

**Disclaimer: **_**Highlander**_** belongs to Davis-Panzer Productions, Filmline International, Gaumon Télévision, and whoever else actually has the rights to it.**

**Twilight**** (series) belongs to Stephanie Meyer. NOT ME! (Obviously)**

**Summary: How might Bella Swan and Edward Cullen's relationship have played out if she hadn't been just a human, but actually a pre-Immortal?**

**Author's Note: OK, I started trying to think of a Highlander/Twilight crossover almost as soon as I finished reading the first book. I came up with one idea, but have—at least temporarily—decide that that one is a bit too AU. So I started working on this one.**

**The only other Highlander/Twilight crossover I know of is Kirallie's ****Love Eternal****, but I'd love to see more. So if you know any, please let me know.**

**Now without further ado, enjoy the story! ^_^**

* * *

**An Eternal Life**

** By Jess S **

_**Prologue: First Death**_

**Edward's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 19, 2005**

Edward winced as another whimper escaped Bella's lips, which for the most part had been tightly pressed together, holding in the tortured sounds behind her _excruciatingly_ pained expression.

"It shouldn't be long now," Carlisle murmured from the bedroom's doorway, though it was something he needn't say. All of them knew the transformation took three days, and that it had been almost that long since James had taken Bella's mortality away.

Edward didn't reply.

_I am sorry, Edward. I know you didn't want this for her._

"I know," the telepath replied to his father's concerned thought. The same thought that had been passing constantly through the heads of each of his family members in varying forms over the last almost seventy-two hours. "I can barely bare this," he shook his head. "Her agony."

Jasper _hadn't_ been able to stand it. Or so he'd claimed.

Edward knew that his brother's experiences during the Southern Wards had rendered him rather used to what others endured during the change—or as used to it as anyone could ever get. At the very least, he knew that Jasper's gift wasn't needlessly cruel to him: that though he could sense the pain the transforming individual was going through, he _was_ able to distance himself from it. Edward had seen him do it before, with Emmett, and had seen his memories of doing so countless—or deliberately uncounted times—in the past before then.

No, Jasper had really left because of Edward: not wanting his brother to be able to sense Bella's pain—his mate's truly terrible torment—through the empath's mind any longer than was absolutely necessary. Imagining it was awful enough, the reality of feeling each instant was needlessly cruel.

Jasper had returned less than an hour ago, though, forcing himself to bear the agony so that he could be here when his newest sister woke as one of them. He had, of course, also been deliberately focusing on pretty much everything else so that Edward wouldn't sense any more through him than he absolutely had to.

Edward, himself, was tempted to tell his brother not to bother. He might've done so, if he thought his suggestion would be treated with anything other than sympathetic scorn from the empath and strong objections from everyone else. So he'd kept the thought that he deserved to be tortured for allowing this to happen to himself.

Though he did deserve it: for not getting to her in time. He'd always prided himself on his speed, but when his beloved had needed him most he'd been just a little too slow.

Or more than a little, really. He should have gotten there before James hurt her at all. Instead he'd only just managed to keep the tracker from draining her, and still hadn't been fast enough, focused enough, to kill the monster and get to Bella's side before the venom had spread through her bloodstream.

By the time Carlisle and the others arrived to help him handle James, to give him the chance to return to Bella's side, she was already turning.

He'd wanted to try sucking the venom out of her, but it was too late.

Too late.

They'd been forced to simply focus on getting her somewhere safe to finish her transformation. And they'd ended up renting a large house several miles outside of Phoenix, a good distance away from any neighbors that might hear her screams. Not that she was screaming. No, his Bella was clearly concerting a lot of effort into not showing how much pain she was in. Undoubtedly not wanting him to feel bad for getting there too late.

For being too slow.

"I'm sorry, my love," Edward murmured for what well might be the hundredth time as he leaned over to place a gentle kiss on her forehead, the motion a little awkward as he was careful not to move the hand that she'd been gripping like it was a lifeline for days. "I'm _so_ sorry."

_That's __**not**__ going to help her, Edward_.

He barely suppressed a growl at Alice's intruding thought, not looking up as she slipped around Carlisle and over to the other side of the bed, sitting down on Bella's other side.

_You know it's true. She needs you to be strong for her. To help her adjust to our lifestyle. To __**not**__ think she's a monster._

Edward's head snapped up and he glared at the pixie, ignoring the waves of calm her defensive mate immediately sent his way from just outside the room.

Jasper would undoubtedly enter the room the moment Bella's heart—and the pain it was pounding through her body with every beat—stopped, to be at his mate's side when the newborn-vampire awoke, until then he still needed to keep his distance. But the false calm didn't fool Edward.

"Of course she's not a monster!"

_You've always thought __**you**__ are, Edward. That we all are. And you've told her that several times. If you reject her now, she'll probably think that's why. Even though she's never agreed with you._

"I'm not—"

_I know. I haven't seen you doing that,_ Alice frowned, shaking her head. _I haven't been able to see much of anything, actually. _

It was true. Ever since James had bitten Bella, Alice had had trouble seeing into her future. They assumed it was because in her agonized state Bella wasn't capable of making decisions, so of course Alice couldn't see the outcomes.

That, and Alice had been anxiously awaiting her husband's return through the long hours of his absence: unwilling to leave Bella, but unhappy at his necessary departure, too. So it'd been hard for her to try and focus on Bella's future when she so much wanted to focus on her own, and her mate's. With Jasper back, though, her inner eye was turned towards her best friend's fate… but she still wasn't seeing anything.

None of that made them feel any better though. They all wanted Bella to be okay. And Alice not being able to _see_ that she _would_ be okay was almost as unsettling as Bella's obvious pain was.

"She's going to be dazzling," Alice murmured, looking down at Bella.

Edward growled at her, though he kept it quiet so as to avoid frightening Bella. Of course, his poor love probably wasn't aware of anything outside the horrible agony she was suffering. "She always has been."

Alice snorted, "You know what I mean. _Look_ at her."

Once he'd gotten over the arrogant assumption that as a human Bella Swan should not be all that attractive, he had recognized that she really was quite pretty in a unique way. He'd been as captivated by her beauty as he was by her mysterious mind, surprising personality and torturously delicious, sweet scent.

He knew Alice was right as he looked down at his suffering love.

The venom was doing what it always did, after all: enhancing the beauty that was already there.

Her ivory skin was becoming even more pale then it had already been, the minute mortal flaws disappearing entirely, till it was as luminous as a pearl, a flawlessly smooth surface that glistened subtly over formerly fragile limbs that would soon be deceptive in their size and form, hiding the monstrous strength of a vampire.

Her long, thick, mahogany hair had gradually become more fluid. It would always be silky, shiny and perfect in a way that human models could only attempt to obtain through hours of grooming and countless hair-care products. For some reason, it was also painting highlights of red through her hairs: highlights that hadn't been there even to vampiric eyes before.

Her face, pale as the moon, looked even paler against that dark, silky frame. Never again would those cheeks be painted in a delectably wonderful blush when she was embarrassed, which had seemed so often but always wonderful.

Her full, slightly out-of-balance lips had paled a bit also. The rich, warm reddish tone they'd held before stolen by the venom's chilling change.

What little had remained of baby-fat on her body had melted away already, leaving her cooling limbs statuesquely shaped and firmer than firm, harder than marble. Harder than diamonds.

But he thought her eyes would be the hardest thing to accept. Her wondrously warm, chocolate-brown eyes would undoubtedly still be deep, still be curious and loving—provided she did not hate him for her fate, though he wouldn't blame her if she did. He hoped with all of his un-beating heart that that wouldn't be the case, of course, but he'd still understand. Though it would hurt if her never-brown-again eyes were filled with hate when they opened, turned to that terrible crimson shade so bright they actually glowed. But he would understand.

_Edward_, Alice hissed softly at him, though the reprimand was all in her mind.

Oh, right. He wasn't supposed to be thinking of himself as a monster now, because he didn't want to make it harder for Bella to adjust upon waking. Of course he didn't, but he'd recognized himself as a monster for so long that it was very, very hard.

_Listen_.

Again, Alice's mental command was very concise, but this one was easier to obey. Especially since he'd noticed the same thing she had.

Bella's beautiful heart, which had been beating far too fast for far too many hours, had sped up even faster: so that it sounded more like a hummingbird's than a human's. Her hands were already cooling—the venom having completed its task there.

"Ah," Carlisle murmured, sounding relieved. "It's almost over."

Edward already knew that. He'd witnessed the transformation three times before, after all. With Esme, Rosalie, and then Emmett.

He'd never been able to stay for the whole process: the fiery pain in their minds too great, each time, for him to withstand. But like Jasper—in those first three times—he'd returned for the end, shortly before they woke up.

It was a bit ironic that the one time he was more than willing to inflict the torment of the transformation on himself again, to be at his soul mate's side the whole time, her own gift rendered his useless.

Or maybe not. Maybe it made sense that his mate wouldn't hurt him, even indirectly, through his own gift. He knew Bella certainly wouldn't want to, anymore than he'd want to hurt her. And if they were made for each other, as most vampires insisted their mates truly were: whether it was by nature, when they were born human, or by the venoms' influence when they were immortalized…

"Soon," Alice agreed eagerly, though she was bothered by the fact that she still couldn't _see_ Bella's future. "I'll get the—" she stopped, shaking her head slightly as they all heard the same thing.

Carlisle moved the rest of the way into the room so that Jasper, Emmett, Esme and Rosalie could follow him in.

"Alice…" Jasper called softly, his tone firm. He didn't want her to be so close to Bella when she woke as a newborn.

Alice sighed, but obediently rose after giving Bella's hand a gentle squeeze, "It'll be okay soon, Bella." Then she moved over to her husband and reluctantly let him push her behind him and Emmett.

His two brothers' had taken understandably defensive positions in front of the other members of their family.

Understandable, though Edward himself couldn't see Bella as a threat. But he hadn't fought newborns as Jasper had.

Nor had Emmett, he was just following Jasper's wary lead, the idea of any harm coming to Rosalie forcing the most-childlike member of the family to assume his role as the strongest again.

Again Bella's heart beat sped up, faster event then the hummingbird's as it continued its last-ditched effort in a loosing battle with the vicious venom. Her lips remained locked together, a stubborn refusal to emit any sounds of pain even as her back arced up off the bed and her grip on his hand became painfully tight with newborn strength already there.

Finally it came.

A deep, hollow-sounding thud that ended the crazy beats.

Her heart stuttered out two more desperate beats, before emitting a soft, pitiful thud and stopping all together.

Immediately, her grip went slack and that tortured expression finally slipped off her face, her features relaxing as though she was only sleeping.

Everyone stopped breathing as Bella did, watching anxiously for their newest family member to open her eyes.

Edward tried to prepare himself for the demonic shade, not wanting to make this any harder for Bella than it was going to be already. He gave her hand a slight, hopefully reassuring squeeze as they all waited for her reaction to her new state of being.

…When the bated, breathless seconds passed into minutes they all started to get worried.

_She should have arisen by now_, Carlisle thought worriedly. _Pushed into frenzy by her newborn bloodlust if nothing else._

_Wow, little sis is doing a pretty good impression of a corpse_, Emmett marveled, making Edward wince. _Oops, sorry bro. _

_What's taking so long?_ Alice wondered, her mental voice now a little desperate. _Why can't I see her?_

"Bella? Sweetheart?" Esme called softly, worriedly, as she leaned around Emmett. "Can you hear me?"

Emmett immediately caught onto the idea of talking to her, "Hey, little sis, it's time ta get up!"

_Edward_, Alice hissed mentally, seemingly afraid of saying anything aloud herself. _Say something!_

_Hypocrite,_ he thought, but then drew in a slow, deep breath, to talk.

Only to stop with the breath half drawn; more than a bit surprised by how sweet—how human—Bella's blood still smelled. Even more strangely, it was still tainted by venom, which made him frown.

He glanced over at the others, catching Carlisle's gaze. "Her blood hasn't changed?"

The others eyes all widened and they all drew slight breaths in through their noses to catch the scent themselves, before looks of puzzlement and worry twisted their features.

_How odd… _Carlisle thought as he moved forward, ignoring Jasper's half-hearted effort to hold him back. _She should smell like a vampire now._

"But she doesn't." Edward said aloud, "Not quite."

Her blood smelled a little different, but not Vampiric. It still smelled warm and rich like a human's, and still smelled delectable.

_No,_ Carlisle agreed, frowning slightly as he looked down on Bella's still, relaxed features; confusion predominant in his thoughts. "Bella? Can you hear me?"

They all watched her, waiting anxiously for her response.

Carlisle glanced down at his watch, which he'd done earlier too, as no response came. It'd been just over six minutes since her heart stopped.

Did something go wrong?

Could the venom have killed her instead of immortalizing her, despite the fact that her heart had kept beating through every minute of the required three days the transformation typically took?

_It's been almost seven minutes since her heart stopped_, Carlisle thought with another worried glance at his watch just a moment before exactly that amount of time had passed.

And it was in that instant that the hollow thud of another heart beat reached their ears. Followed by more slow beats that sounded less and less hollow as they increased to a horribly frantic tempo.

"What the hell?" Jasper muttered, actually shocked into swearing in front of the ladies.

Bella's eyes snapped opened and they were all stunned to see the beautiful brown Edward had grown to love so much; though he hated the agony that was in them and was quickly distracted from the color as her mouth opened to release one of the cries she'd so bravely held back before.

* * *

**Methos's POV – Papago Park, Arizona – March 19, 2005**

The world's oldest immortal released a disgruntled sigh as he stared out at the Hole-in-the-Rock. But his attention wasn't anywhere near the park's popular formation of red arkosic and conglomerate sandstone. It was on the sweet girl he'd returned to Phoenix to check up on. (1)

Bella Swan. He'd met her just over half a year ago, the day before her seventeenth birthday at the _Phoenix Art Museum_. She was there trying to finish up the necessary research she needed for a history project that hadn't been due until the first Friday of October, three weeks away.

It was the barely-there-buzz of a Pre-Immortal that first drew his eyes to her, and it'd been her catastrophic clumsiness that'd led to them actually interacting. It had been very innocent, just as she was.

…_**FLASHBACK…**_

_Methos had just set one foot on the stairwell that led up to the museum's Mezzanine when the weak buzz had made him pause. He instantly recognized it as the barely-there-buzz of a Pre-Immortal, and looked around carefully for who it might be._

_One typically found another Immortal by looking around for whoever was also looking around warily, but Pre-Immortals were a little more tricky to spot, since they couldn't sense the buzz through the spark of a Quickening that lay nestled in their heart, waiting for the day it would make them an Immortal._

_But Methos had been around a long time, and had met many Pre-Immortals. He knew that, with how weak it felt, the person he was looking for had to be very close…_

_It wasn't any of the people behind him: the only two who were close enough were the old man staring at an ugly piece of impressionist art, and a little girl getting a drink from the nearby fountain. Methos had been nearer to them both earlier, and hadn't sensed anything._

_So his eyes went up the stairs, where one individual was making her way down._

_It was teenage girl; her womanly shape but slightly too long limbs—not fully developed—telling him that though she was undoubtedly in high school, she couldn't be more than fifteen or sixteen years of age._

_She was a pretty little thing, with long dark hair and seriously set, but perfectly formed features. Her lips were a little out of balance; the lower lip bigger than the upper one, but that was the only part of her face that marred her otherwise classically shaped beauty, and it lent her face character rather than blemish. _

_She was paler than was common in this very sunny area; perhaps she was a visitor, like him? Though she was a bit young to be traveling without a guardian of some sort, be it a parent, older sibling, teacher, etc._

_Her skin didn't sport any of the flaws one usually saw on teenagers: not a pimple or a freckle in sight, though that wasn't all that unusual in Pre-Immortals. Just as the spark of the Quickening in them was able to help their immune system shake off almost any illness with ease, it often seemed to help with the problems that tormented most mortals._

_A small trade off, perhaps, for the fact that all Immortals and Pre-Immortals alike were born barren. Though Methos had known many who would prefer the gift of children to an attractive appearance or easy health all their days. There had been many times Methos, himself, would've liked to be capable of fathering children…_

_But that was neither here nor there; particularly since it wasn't something that could be changed, so Methos made himself focus on the present, only realizing just then that he'd been staring at the girl for several seconds from where he was poised to start climbing the stairs._

_She hadn't noticed though. She was apparently much too preoccupied with making her way carefully down the stairs to notice anyone further down below her, though he'd be in her line of sight in a few steps._

_Methos was starting to try and think of a valid reason to approach her, even reasoning that perhaps a direct collision—pretending he wasn't paying any more attention then she was—might be the best way of going about it. But the careful way she was walking distracted him, made him curious._

_He wasn't sure he'd ever seen anyone take more care with walking before…_

"_Tommy! Karen! Ben! Slow down!" a woman's irritated voice called from behind him, just before three little children dashed around him, one of the boy's accidently hitting his let with an excitedly flailing hand as he ran by, but none of them really seem to notice—or care—about him as they hurried up the steps. "Walk!"_

_Methos chanced a quick glance behind him to see the woman who'd yelled hurrying after her errant charges. She was probably their mother, she was old enough and the resemblance between them was strong enough, but he had to wonder, if that was the case, why the woman wasn't able to control the brats? Three kids would be hard for any adult to control, but at their present age—all three looked old enough for at least kindergarten—most parents would have some semblance of control over them._

_Such thoughts were banished though, when he heard further commotion from up above, on the stairs, and he turned fully expected to see one of the little ones had tripped and hurt themselves._

_But no, apparently all three had made it to the next landing fine, but when they'd darted around the preoccupied Pre-Immortal coming down the stairs, they'd startled her, making her miss a step and start stumbling—head first—down the staircase!_

_It took Methos only three quick steps to come to her rescue, catching her slight form easily; but his grab for her backpack, which'd gone flying in the same direction her head had been headed, wasn't so successful._

"_Th-Thank you," the girl said a second later, as soon as she realized she was no longer falling and someone had saved her._

_At the same time, the kids' harried guardian had dashed around them after the little miscreants, calling back apologies as she went, though neither of them really cared for her words._

"_You're welcome," Methos replied, giving the girl a warm smile that made her turn an even brighter red then she was already as he let her extricate herself from his arms, though she let him hold her hand in support till she had one hand on the railing and hurried the quick final few steps to the level he'd been leaving when he'd sensed her._

"_S-Sorry," she stuttered, not meeting his eyes as she knelt down beside her bag and started picking up its spilled contents._

_Methos had followed her, and knelt also, not willing to give up this opportunity to introduce himself, no matter how unexpectedly it'd come about. "Don't worry about it," he reassured her, his tone meant to sooth as he hurried to collect the heavier books and notebooks while she grabbed a countless number of pencils and pens._

"_You really don't have to—"_

"_Don't mention it," Methos said again, deliberately letting a little amusement seep into the soothing words. He helped her put the books back in her bag a few moments later, giving her a gentle smile. "There you go. You okay?"_

"_Y-Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, as if on auto-pilot, before she blushed and added even more uncomfortably: "Believe it or not, I'm used to it. I think I'm the world's most clumsy klutz."_

_Methos laughed a little, still smiling at her, "I'm sure you're not that bad," he protested, though remembering the way she'd been so strangely careful on the stairs before the kids scared her into her fall into his arms, he honestly could believe it. Though it really probably had more to do with whatever growth spurt she'd gone through in the last few years, and not yet being completely used to the lengths of her legs then anything else. He didn't say anything about that, though, as he saw she was already starting to think she shouldn't be bothering him anymore than she already had—and really, that was the look on her face—so he kept smiling as he held out his hand. "I'm Adam Walker."_

"_Oh, I'm Bella; Bella Swan," she replied, accepting his hand automatically moving to shake his hand, and then blushing when he gently gripped her hand and turned it to bow and place a soft kiss on the back._

"_Pleased to meet you," Methos grinned as he rose; fully expecting both the blush that Bella's cheeks now boasted and the clearly flattered look in her eyes. He was too old for her, even by appearance standards alone: he looked to be in his early to mid-twenties while she was jailbait just by that standard. Plus, he'd decided long ago that he'd never court a woman who wasn't at least in her twenties; any younger was just too young, no matter how pretty the girl was. But there was no harm in gentle flirting in flattery, particularly since she clearly needed a self-confidence boost and she brushed so prettily._

"_Th-Thank you," Bella replied quietly, before adding quickly. "You too! And, thank you for catching me. I'm sor—"_

"_You're quite welcome," Methos cut her off, deciding then and there that if he was going to be spending any time at all with this girl he was going to have to help her build a heck of a lot more self-confidence. _

_Modesty and selflessness were all well and good, but no one should go through life apologizing all the time._

"_What brings you to the museum?" Methos ventured before Bella could say anything, even as he let her reclaim her hand, and smiling more widely when he saw her decide to keep talking to him, but raising an eyebrow when she started by sighing._

"_A research paper for school," Bella frowned, shaking her head. "I'm not sure it was worth the trip, though."_

"_Oh no?" Methos let his smile slip into a half-frown and let the rest of his face fall into curious lines. "I've always found museums excellent places to start, at the very least."_

_Granted, he frequently used museums and history books more to __**remind**__ himself of just what mortals knew of the ages long past, and what he couldn't tell them about, but that didn't mean a museum wasn't a good place for even a young scholar to start a paper._

_Bella sighed, shaking her head, "I thought it'd be. But everything's so much harder to translate then I thought it'd be—I thought the museum would have translations up of a lot of the scrolls they have on display, but maybe they prefer them being unreadable?"_

"_More mysterious, that way," Methos pointed out with a chuckle, before asking. "What do you need translated?"_

_Bella shook her head, "A bunch of the things upstairs in the new Ancient Roman exhibit. I brought a Latin to English dictionary with me—"_

"_Better to learn the language than to try muddling through it with one of those things, my dear," Methos cut her off again, his tone only mildly chastising. He hurried on before she could take offense, not that he really thought she would, but he didn't want her to be overly embarrassed either. "I can translate for you, if you like?"_

_Bella blinked at him, "What?"_

"_I dabbled in linguistics, ancient languages in particular, before I got my medical doctorate. I can read Latin as easily as anyone else reads English." Methos said nonchalantly. _

_It was true, technically._

"_I couldn't ask you to—"_

"_I'm volunteering," Methos cut her off again, spreading his arms wide. "Ancient Rome's as interesting as anything else here, and I'm always up for a challenge." Then, not giving her time to object, he picked up her now closed backpack and swung it over one shoulder, and gently grabbed her hand with and looped her arm through his free one, pointedly steering her back towards the stairs she'd stumbled down moments before. "Please?"_

_The pleading look he gave her seem to do the trick, at both getting through her shock and getting her to accept his help and stay in his company for now. _

"_Thank you," Bella murmured with a small nod, before giving the stairs they were about to climb a forlorn look. "I'll warn you, though, I'm probably gonna trip again, at least once."_

_Methos shook his head, chuckling even as he gently led her up the stairs at the slow pace she set. "I won't let you fall," he reassured her, with a warm smile that grew a little as she returned it. As they climbed the stairs, he asked, "Do you go to school here in Phoenix?"_

"_Yes," Bella answered, giving him another little smile. "I grew up here. Mom and I moved here when I was four. I know I don't really look the part," she said, a bit of humor coloring her tone._

_And she really didn't; neither tan nor burn marred her pale skin._

"_Don't like tanning, I take it?"_

_Bella shrugged, "My skin doesn't seem to tan. Or burn all that often, actually." Her voice turned even more amused as she added; "Maybe one of my grandparents was an albino?"_

_Methos laughed._

…_**END OF FLASHBACK…**_

He'd spent the rest of the afternoon helping the charming young woman understand the history she'd chosen to taste for her paper. And he'd had a wonderful time.

Looking back on it, he'd found himself feeling very protective of the young girl. Maybe because he'd had to rescue her from her own clumsiness several more times that day. Maybe a little bit because of the misfortune of birth they shared. It wasn't like it was uncommon for Immortals—the good ones at least—to feel obligated to protect mortals who might one day be like them. Pre-Immortals _were_ really the closest thing their 'race' had to children, after all. Methos had even watched a few of them live peacefully through their lives and die safe, natural deaths.

But it'd only occurred to him after a few months of correspondence via email, and occasionally instant-messaging, that Bella reminded him of someone very special to him.

With how long he'd lived and how many, many people he'd known, liked, and even loved, it wasn't unusual for Methos to notice similarities to old friends and acquaintances in new ones.

Sometimes it was physical resemblance, maybe something as little as the shape of their nose or the easiness of their smile. There were really only so many shapes the human form could take, after all, and all humans were, in theory, distantly—very, very distantly—related through the common ancestors of the race.

More often, though, it was the personality traits that reminded him of those he'd once known and lost. And though he tried to not let such reminders of the past influence his present over much, there were times that it was absurdly hard.

Like now.

Bella was sweet and funny and smart and much too modest for her own good, but the protectiveness he'd already felt for her, stirring her so strongly even on the day they first met, was born from how much she reminded him of Alexa Bond: the mortal love who'd been snatched away from him by cancer mere months after they'd only just met. The dear lady who's loss still haunted him in his nightmares; and in his dreams. The reason he'd told Mac and Joe that some loves were one-in-a-hundred-lifetimes… (2)

Did he love Bella Swan because of that? No. Methos would never believe in the ridiculous concept of love at first sight. He hadn't even loved Alexa herself at first glance; he'd liked her, certainly. But love had been born from their time together, brief though it was.

Could he hope for such feelings from—and towards—Bella? Maybe…only time could tell.

For now though, she was still just too young to try. She was still a child in fact, and not just by comparison to himself.

But whether she would one day be his greatest love, a dear little sister, or just a good friend, Methos had been sure from the moment they met that he would never regret knowing Bella Swan.

Even if it led to him doing silly things like coming to check up on her without warning her ahead of time…only to find out that she'd moved. If he'd checked his email a little more often, he wouldn't have had the problem, but then again he did have over a dozen different accounts; and email was still a very new concept for his old mind to get used to.

However, momentary inconvenience or not, he was relieved to know that she'd moved away from Phoenix. It was the fifth most populous city in the United States, and therefore an area she'd been more likely to run into head-hunters than in a small town.

According to her old neighbor; a talkative little busy-body named Marta, and the most recent email she'd sent him—over two months ago, though he'd read it after an hour with chatty-Marta—Bella had moved to Forks, Washington, while her mother Renee Dwyer had followed her new, baseball-playing husband to Florida. Bella's father, Charlie Swan, was the police chief of Forks, and she'd decided to move in with him to let her mother and new step-father enjoy a few honeymoon years without needing to worry about a teenager. Self-sacrificing as ever; since she hated rain and cold, and Forks, Washington was supposed to have plenty of both.

He would have felt much better about it though if said small town wasn't in the state of Washington, the whole proximity rendered a bit more dangerous than it otherwise would have been because Macleod—the famous Highlander—lived in Seacouver some of the time. But a glance at the map had reassured him a bit. Forks really was a small, out of the way town. Not a place most headhunters would wander through on their way to Seacouver. Though she might run into some in Seattle, he knew she didn't really care for shopping; she'd be more likely to go to the city to see a museum or art exhibit, something most headhunters weren't likely to be visiting. (3)

So he'd sent an email off to her, the day before yesterday, and was waiting to hear back from her. While contemplating whether or not her police chief father would appreciate any man making a point of traveling hundreds of miles to visit his daughter. Never mind that Methos had come to Phoenix all the way from Paris, France to see her.

It didn't surprise him that Bella had moved, since she hadn't seemed overly attached to Phoenix, despite her preferring sunshine to rain.

Like some of the other perceptive—and honestly more interesting—Pre-Immortals Methos had met in the past, Bella Swan didn't feel like she fit in with her peers. Immortals were generally born to stand out and it sometimes made their lives hellish, or at least uncomfortable. Many of those children that'd been so uncomfortable in mortal coils had felt much more comfortable, much more alive, as Immortals. Immortality just suited them better than mortality did.

And with how clumsy dear Bella really was he didn't doubt she'd one day number among his Immortal friends.

Why had he come to check up on her now?

He hated to think of her trapped in the body of a seventeen-year-old. It would close quite a few doors to her that just a few more mortal years would keep open. Though with some acting, make-up and the like, she might be able to enter more mature circles still, if only because she'd have the more important thing: the maturity, down pat. Hell, the girl he'd met a few months ago was more mature then several centuries-old Immortals he'd known.

Staring at the natural wonders around him, Methos was wondering why he'd felt the need to be here. Silly though it may sound—and he'd never say it allowed—his gut rarely led him wrong. So why was he worried about Bella, when not a thing in the email she'd sent him had hinted at any reason for him to worry?

If Bella needed his help, she'd have called the paper number he'd given her along with his email a few months before. Or said _something_ in her emails.

No matter what her eventual fate, Methos had wanted to keep in touch. Either so that he could be there when she became Immortal, or so that he could have the satisfaction of knowing she'd live a good, full life when she reached her natural death.

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

Methos froze, his eyes dropping down to the pocket that held the pager he'd just been thinking about. A cell phone would be more modern, but the pager was just for those who didn't really know him; like Bella. Emergency cases he'd need to tailor his responses for. He took it out and frowned at the number. It wasn't one he knew, but it was a Washington area code. So he pulled out his cell phone and dialed it, knowing Bella was the only person it could be from, since Macleod, Richie and Joe were all in Paris at the moment.

_RING!_

The phone barely rang once before it was picked up and a beautiful but completely unfamiliar voice answered. "_Hello?_"

Methos frowned, "I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong num—"

"_Are you Doctor Walker?_" the girl—or maybe young woman—asked, and it was only then that he noticed the edge of desperation in her voice.

His frown deepened. That _was_ the name he'd been going by when he met Bella. Though he'd switched to a different persona a few weeks later, having tired that one out. "I am. May I ask whom I'm speaking with?"

"_Alice Cullen. I'm a friend of Bella Swan._"

"Bell—"

"_She needs your help._"

Methos rose from where he'd been seated and glanced around him again, confirming that the only people nearby was still the pair that was hiking up to the Hole-in-the-Rock. "I beg your pardon?"

"_In your note, you told her to call you—your pager—if she ever needed help. She needs help now._"

He could hear other voices in the background, but couldn't make out what they were saying as he shook his head. "Alright. How can I help her?"

Unhappy suspicions were beginning to form in his head. He supposed the note he'd given her would be an obvious connection to another Immortal if a head-hunter had found her and chosen to take her head. This could very well be a trap.

"_I... I don't know. Can you come to Phoenix, Ar—_"

"Bella lives in Washington now."

"_I know, my family does, too. But we were... visiting Phoenix and—Please. I know you can help her._"

"Why? Is Bella alright?" he demanded.

"_...No. No, she's not. Please, can you come? We'll be able to explain better when you get here._"

By taking his head? Methos wondered, before saying firmly; "I'd like to speak to Bella, please."

"_She can't talk right now. She's very ill._"

Ill? Methos frowned. Pre-Immortals didn't catch illnesses any more than Immortals did. Or when they did, their immune system—perhaps powered by the small spark of a Quickening that gave Pre-Immortals their barely-there-buzz—made short work of any disease or virus.

Poison was far more likely than illness.

Poison; or deception.

"Just let me speak to her for a—"

"_She __**can't**__,_" 'Alice Cullen' protested, before sighing as the other voices spoke in the background again. "_**Please**__, Dr. Walker. She's in so much pain. If you can't help her I don't think anyone can!_"

Methos blinked, "Why?" his suspicious side—which was really most of his being—still wasn't happy with any of this.

"_What do you mean __**why?!**_" though still hurting, now the girl sounded offended too. "_From the note you wrote, it sounded like you might actually care about her. Don't you care about her being in pain?_"

The thought made his ancient-but-ever-young heart ache. Pain and suffering was not something he could ever wish on someone as altruistic and good as Bella Swan.

"Yes, I care." Methos allowed himself to answer, before forcing his voice to firm again. "But I'm not sure of how you expect me to help her."

"_She thinks you can._" The girl replied, her voice firm—though it didn't sound entirely honest to his experienced ears. "_Can't you at least try? __**Please?**_"

He sighed, "Very well. The address?"

"_My brother will pick you up at—_"

"Thank you, but I'd prefer to drive myself. Where in Phoenix am I going?" He committed her answer to memory before hanging up and sparing the park one last, long look. Then he spun on his heel and making his way back to the parking lot.

It shouldn't take him more than hour to reach the house this 'Alice Cullen' wanted him to come to. But he knew it was going to be a horrible drive. He'd certainly spend the whole time strategizing and trying to figure out what he'd be walking into.

Not that it really mattered. As long as this wasn't a trap set by another Immortal, he shouldn't have any trouble getting out of it alive on his own.

And if it another Immortal had hurt—or killed—Bella, he would be all too happy to kill them. Though he tried to avoid challenges as much as possible, there were times he had no desire to. He never backed down from protecting one of his students; his children, or friends. And in his mind Bella had become just that only a few too short months ago.

Still, maybe a call to Mac wouldn't be amiss right now. Not that the young warrior could do much from Paris, but he'd like to think that they were now friendly enough again that MacLeod would care to avenge him if he didn't survive this...

* * *

**Edward's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 20, 2005**

Edward shook his head, frowning at his pixie-like sister. "But who _is_ he, Alice?"

"I already told you, Edward," she snapped back. "I don't _know!_" she shook her head. "I can barely See him. I just know he can help... and he's almost here. Maybe ten minutes."

"Maybe?" Emmett asked her, raising an eyebrow at the uncertainty in her voice. "What'd you mean 'maybe'?"

Alice sighed, "I just said I could _barely __**see**__ him_. That makes knowing the exact time of his arrival difficult!"

"I honestly don't know what you expect this Dr. Walker to do for Bella, Alice," Carlisle spoke up, sounding as emotionally wearied as all of them were. Though not quite as effected as Edward, all his family was hurting with him and Bella. And it really bothered Carlisle that he couldn't help the girl he'd already accepted as his youngest daughter.

"I don't _know_ how he can help her!" Alice hissed, choking back a dry sob as her husband closed her in a gentle embrace once again. "I've already told you all that!"

And she had. Though she hadn't been all that forthcoming as she'd made the call to the stranger-doctor's pager number and answered the phone a moment later. She had, however, tried to explain herself immediately afterwards. But they'd still kept badgering her over the last hour.

Edward had tried to help her out a few times. After all, he'd seen her vision. All Alice knew from her vision was that she was supposed to call a specific number she found in Bella's purse, which happened to be on a business card for this '_Doctor_ _Adam_ _Walker_,' along with a nice note inviting Bella to call him if she never needs help with anything.

So Alice had called in Bella's stead, trusting her foresight's conviction that this Dr. Walker would be able to help their newest family member despite the fact that the problem was not a human one.

Bella had been screaming for over an hour now, and in far more pain than she was before, according to Jasper who was still trying to funnel calmness and numbness towards the poor girl. A job not made any easier by the emotions that were running high through all the rest of the family now.

"_Stop it!_" came Esme's quiet demand from Bella's room on the floor above them. When Alice had left Bella's side, led not by a vision but by instincts that her gift also had a hand in most of the time, Edward had dashed after her; hoping to find a way to help Bella. Everyone else had followed, save for Esme, who'd stayed to continue gently wiping Bella's brow with a cool washcloth. "This is not a time to be arguing. If Alice thinks he can help Bella we will, of course, welcome him when he arrives."

"Which, I think," Alice spoke up, suddenly pulling out of her husband's arms to run towards the door, "is now."

They all looked after her in confusion, Edward especially since she hadn't actually had a vision of any kind right then but then they all heard the car coming down the long driveway that led to this house.

Carlisle waived them to the living room, trusting that Alice was more than capable enough to greet their guest.

Alice was literally bouncing in place in front of the door, actually debating running out and just pulling the man outside into the house to get him here faster but almost immediately deciding that'd do more harm than good.

Though Edward was actually rather surprised when he heard the man not even pause outside of the house, he just walked right up the steps. Surely he could hear Bella's screams from the driveway?

It was then that Edward realized, his eyes widening a little in shock, that he couldn't hear the mortal man's thoughts.

His mind was closed, just like Bella's.

"What is it, Edward?" Jasper asked warily even as they all waited for their guest to finish the climb up the fairly long front stairs.

"I can't… I can't hear his thoughts," Edward told them at vampire speed.

Their eyes widened also, but Carlisle actually sounded pleased as he asked, "Like Bella?" When Edward nodded, Carlisle looked even more relieved. "This might be a good thing."

It took Edward and everyone else a few long seconds to realize what the elder vampire was getting at.

If the reason Bella's mind was blank to Edward had anything to do with why she wasn't turning into a vampire properly—for lack of a better word—then this Adam Walker might actually be able to help her.

"Alice," Esme called from Bella's room. "Come here and look after Bella, please. I'll greet the doctor."

Alice frowned, but obeyed. Esme was much better at putting mortals at ease around them, after all. Carlisle was good, too, but male vampires were always perceived as more dangerous than females. Though the females were obviously plenty dangerous too.

The moment Alice was at Bella's bedside, Esme was at the front door. And she opened it as soon as the man's hand had hit the wood once, a slightly nervous but still welcoming stretching her lips on command.

* * *

**Methos's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 20, 2005**

Methos could have shot himself.

As suspicious as he was by nature—a nature trained by too much time and too many experiences—this possibility hadn't crossed his mind.

Even when he'd thought of how poison was the only illness-like thing that could take down an immortal for a time, inflicting great pain like an illness, without leaving a mark. Injuries that would be fatal to mortals could put them down for a time, too of course; but only decapitation was permanent.

But it'd been a long time since his path had crossed with any vampires. A long time since he'd really heard of any, too, since the mortals now believed them the stuff of fantasy and horror stories.

Then again, he'd _never_ heard of vampires saving and protecting their intended prey instead of just eating it. _Or_ trying to turn a pre-Immortal into a vampire. Which were the only two scenarios he could think of that might explain vampires calling for help on behalf of a pre-Immortal.

They couldn't turn an actual Immortal, after all. The Quickening wouldn't allow that; destroying the venom the moment it tried to enter their system before lashing out at the vampire that'd dared to bite its Immortal.

Ordinarily vampires and Immortals instinctively avoided each other. Only those that knew of the other non-mortals out there, and were therefore aware of what their subconscious was warning them away from, could actually resist it.

Methos could. Darius had been able to. Amanda's mentor, Rebecca Horne, had too. He didn't know if Amanda had ever learned it. She was born after the treaty, so maybe not.

The Immortals treaty with the Volturi; the Italian Vampiric coven that essentially ruled the world's vampires with marble fists. They knew about Immortals. The ancients had once fought alongside them to destroy the vampire coven in Romanian that was unacceptably brazen and flagrant. Afterwards, the Volturi had agreed to not let their kind reveal the supernatural to the mortals or hunt Immortals, which the Volturi brothers called the _Bambini della tempesta_, or _Storm Children_. (4)

Really, the second was more for the vampires' benefit, since it was _much_ easier for Immortals to kill vampires than vice versa. One sip of the Quickening-laced blood would destroy a vampire and they supposedly smelled wonderful to the undead. And the older Immortals, who could actually control and wield their Quickening in various ways, could actually fight—and kill—vampires with it.

But if memory served him right, these vampires were as unusual in appearance as they were in their actions. The supernaturally lovely, conservatively dressed female vampire that answered the door seemed quite used to displaying human inclinations; she even looked a little nervous as she smiled at him, though she certainly had no idea of what he was.

And her eyes weren't red; they were a dark golden color. Strange.

"Thank you for coming, Dr. Walker," her voice wasn't the same as the one that he'd talked to on the phone; this wasn't Alice Cullen. Yet her voice was very similar; just as musical, but more motherly. Her small smile was friendly and warm as she moved to the side of the doorway, giving him plenty of space to enter without touching her. "I'm Esme Cullen. Please, come in."

Methos nodded slowly, keeping his expression carefully neutral even as his Quickening rolled uncertainly inside him. At least it didn't seem to be reacting as frantically to these vampires as it had before. "Thank you. Mrs. Cullen, is it?"

"Yes, I'm Carlisle's wife." Esme Cullen confirmed, nodding towards the living room where several other vampires had remained seated. Like her, they were all just as lovely as vampires should be. And their eyes were golden, too. "This is my husband, Dr. Carlisle Cullen."

The eldest-looking male rose, his smile just as warm under his halo of golden hair as he held out a hand to shake in greeting upon reaching his wife's side. "Welcome, Dr. Walker."

"Dr. Cullen," Methos nodded in reply even as he reached up to grasp the blond's cold hand, giving it a firm shake. He was a little surprised, again, that the vampire was actually willing to shake hands. As he could clearly resist the draw of Methos's Immortal blood, his Vampiric-instincts should be telling him to get away: far, far away.

"And these are our children," Esme continued, her tone still warm though there was that growing note of worry along the edge. "You spoke with Alice on the phone, but she's upstairs with Bella. That is Jasper, beside him is Edward. And that's Rosalie and Emmett."

"It's good to meet you all," Methos nodded towards them politely, before frowning towards the doctor. "But I believe it was Bella you wanted me to help? Has her...condition, improved?"

A muffled scream suddenly shot out of one of the upstairs rooms, and Methos glanced towards the stairs while Carlisle sighed.

"No, I'm afraid she hasn't. I'll take you to her, if you like."

Methos immediately nodded, "Please."

Then he followed the blonde doctor out of the room up the staircase, headed towards the muffled sounds of pain were still coming from. Though he had to wonder exactly how a vampire could practice medicine.

Dr. Cullen stopped outside the last door down the hall, frowning in visible consternation for a moment. "I look very young for my age, Dr. Walker, but I've been a doctor for quite some time. I've never seen anything like this and honestly I'm not sure how you might be able to help but we're honestly open to any suggestions you might have at this point."

Methos nodded, wincing as another scream came out from behind the closed door the vampire had led him too. "Of course."

He honestly wanted to ask how long the vampire had been a doctor, never having imagined the medical professions as something any vampire would be able to handle… Then again, these vampires obviously weren't quite like the ones he'd met. Their mannerisms were too different and their eyes obviously meant _something_. But what?

Dr. Cullen pushed the door open and entered the room, carefully holding the door open for Methos to enter behind him.

Methos did so, and his eyes immediately went to the vaguely familiar figure on the bed, who was writhing in agony, whimpering but only occasionally letting pained, heart-wrenching screams escape her mouth.

Bella clearly had a much higher pain tolerance than the one other Pre-Immortal he'd met that a vampire had tried to turn.

And that was clearly what'd happened.

Luckily he'd figured out the last time how to stop what was now happening.

The Vampire Venom was fighting with The Quickening. Ordinarily the Quickening wouldn't have any trouble winning, firm in its ownership of the Immortal's body. But Pre-Immortals only had the spark that exploded into the full Quickening the first time their heart stopped prematurely due to a violent death. And the Venom had already worked its way through Bella's body, changing it and claiming it as it went. Which meant both powerful forces were fighting for control now from equally firm positions.

The last time this had happened it had taken Methos and Rebecca _days_ to figure out how to stop it. But by then it'd been too late, the poor girl's mind had already broken and Methos had been forced to take her head.

Rebecca had been heartbroken.

And that was when they and several of their friends had started hunting the vampires, only stopping a few years later when the Volturi made a deal with them. In exchange for their help destroying a rival coven, thereby making the Volturi the leaders of the vampire world, the first thing these vampire-leaders would do is make The Treaty. An agreement to not harm Pre-Immortals or Immortals and not allow other vampires to do so.

Aro had tried a few centuries after that, upon finding a Pre-Immortal, to turn the child—who was actually a young adult but in the eyes of the Immortals just a child—into a vampire. But had then had two of his guard members destroy the body when it was clear that it could not be done. And had promptly been horrified when—as soon as the two guards had torn the young Immortal's body apart to burn the pieces—they'd been engulfed in the young Immortal's Quickening. And immediately destroyed. Aro had barely escaped the Quickening's ferocious reach.

Methos had learned about it after the fact, and immediately warned Aro that that was the vampires' second offense against the Immortals and that a third wouldn't be forgiven.

One of his ancient friends, a pacifist, had agreed to live in a church in Volterra and keep an eye on the vampire royal family after that. Antonio had been there for almost two thousand years now, and the Volturi had never again done anything against any Pre-Immortals or Immortals. Even going out of their way, twice, when a Pre-Immortal had been accidentally caught up in one of the 'fishing parties' brought to their castle to feed from, to entertain the whole group and let them go, specifically because of the Pre-Immortal's presence.

It helped Antonio that he didn't have to stay holed up in his church while in Volterra, because the large vampire presence meant that most Immortals—and certainly all young headhunters—instinctively avoided the place.

When it came down to a fight, Vampires were likely to lose, but that didn't mean the Quickening liked being anywhere near the dangerous predators and their venom.

Methos sighed as he took in Bella's tortured expression, reaching out to gently caress her forehead for a moment, his frown deepening as his Quickening surged at the touch, effected by the turmoil Bella's own Quickening was in. He glanced up at Dr. Cullen, raising an eyebrow. "One of you tried to change her?"

Carlisle and Esme Cullen's eyes immediately went wide and a moment later, he sensed all of the other vampires quickly enter the room behind him, and they were also staring at him.

**Carlisle's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 20, 2005**

Carlisle forced himself to blink almost immediately after the rest of his family darted into the room, hoping the other doctor hadn't noticed them as they were all still behind him. "I-I beg your pardon? Change her how?"

Dr. Walker chuckled quietly, but didn't even look up this time as he answered, "Into a vampire."

"How do you—?"

"Did she ask for it?" the other doctor cut in.

"No. No, she didn't," Carlisle replied, though still shocked at the turn of events he was a bit more hopeful now that it was clear that this doctor might really know what was going on, as it'd taken him just a glance to know that someone had tried to turn Bella. "None of us bit her. A nomad did. Edward stopped him before he could drain her, but it was too late to stop the transformation."

"Hmm," Walker nodded, and then sighed. "It would have been kinder to just let him drain her."

"I love her," Edward protested quietly, shaking his head. "But I was too slow to save her from—"

"As interesting as that is," Walker interrupted, finally looking up from Bella again and pulling his hand back from her forehead, nodding to Esme to continue wiping Bella's head. She immediately complied. "And it _is_ interesting, but it's also quite irrelevant." He cocked his head to the side, studying all of them for a moment before asking. "Why are your eyes golden? All the vampires I've met had red eyes after feeding."

"And so most do," Carlisle agreed, nodding slowly as he held the other doctor's gaze. "But we don't feed from humans."

That clearly surprised Walker, as his eyes widened and his mouth literally fell slightly open before what was evidently impressive self-control took over and cleared his expression. "What do you feed from, then?"

"Animals; personally I prefer deer." Carlisle replied. "As do Alice and Esme. Edward prefers mountain lions, while Rosalie and Emmett like bears."

Walker nodded, "And Jasper?"

Jasper answered for himself, a slight southern drawl slipping into his words, "I fed from humans for several decades before being introduced to this lifestyle. Human blood is very addictive, and I've yet to completely overcome the compulsion, so I don't really like any specific kind of animal. Though predators taste a bit better than herbivores."

"It's getting easier for you, though," Edward spoke up.

Jasper shrugged. "A little bit, yes." Then he cocked his head to the side. "What are you?" He was frowning, but that didn't surprise Carlisle. Jasper was, by far, the most wary member of their family, with Rosalie in a close second. The ex-soldier's next words, however, did surprise him. "Why am I afraid of you?"

_What?_

Carlisle and every member of his family stared at Jasper for a moment, before their gazes snapped over to Adam Walker as the doctor chuckled.

"Ah, so you do have some sense of self-preservation. Or is it more protectiveness?" Walker glanced at Jasper's rigid, slightly aggressive stance.

"I have very well-trained instincts," Jasper replied, his tone harder than Carlisle liked, considering they really did need this strange man's help. "I'm the only one here who's fought in actual battles."

Dr. Walker blinked, smiling slightly. "The only member of your coven, perhaps. But not the only one here."

And very suddenly Carlisle was afraid of the mortal also, or at least deeply intimidated. Every fiber of his being wanted to run.

But in that same instant it just as suddenly vanished.

"Whoa..." Emmett let out a low breath, staring at the doctor.

"Wh-What w-was that?" Esme asked, her eyes again wide but now in the fear that'd suddenly risen up from her gut just an instant before.

Dr. Walker shook his head. "Not something you need to worry about. Not at the moment, anyway." He looked down at Bella as he continued, "I suggest you leave. I can look after Bella."

_Edward, don't_. Carlisle thought pointedly, glancing in his eldest son's direction before returning his eyes to the other, strange doctor. "We can't do that, Dr. Walker. Bella is a member of our family now. She—"

"She won't be turning into a vampire." Walker interrupted him yet again, looking up to meet his eyes steadily, clearly not remotely intimidated by any of the vampires in the room. Not even Emmett or Jasper. Despite the fact that all of Carlisle's family members were now glaring at him. "She can't."

"Why—" Esme started, but Edward cut her off.

"That doesn't matter. I'll love her no matter what she is."

Walker looked at the bronze-haired vampire, surprise clearly fixed on his face for a moment longer than the last time he'd expressed it. He stared at Edward for a few long, drawn out seconds, before shaking his head. "Again, that's very interesting. But your presence can do her no good, particularly if she wants you around anytime after this."

"What do—"

Walker cut Edward off, "I don't know if her venom-laced blood appeals to you at all, but once the venom's gone it will appeal to you quite a bit," he shook his head as he finished, seeming to consider something. Then he went on; "Perhaps that it what we were meant to be, at least in part; a natural trap laid for vampires. I don't know."

"Bella's always had very sweet smelling blood," Alice spoke up, her voice uncharacteristically hesitant. But then, she'd been having trouble seeing anything since Bella was bitten, so this was really uncharted territory for her.

Walker nodded, "Yes. Pre-Immortals usually do. But her blood before her Immortality had kicked in wasn't dangerous to you. It is dangerous now, with her Quickening at work, trying to repair her body and get rid of the venom."

"Her Immortality?" Edward repeated, his eyes wide.

"Her Quickening?" Carlisle asked at the same time, honestly fascinated, even as the small screams of pain Bella was periodically emitting between her constant sobs tore at his frozen heart.

Dr. Walker nodded. "That's what I am, a natural Immortal. That's what Bella is supposed to be, now that she's died her first death."

"_First_ death?" Carlisle echoed before anyone else could.

Again the other doctor nodded. "Yes. No one knows where we actually come from, all Pre-Immortals have been foundlings. We age, just like all mortals, until we die from anything other than old age. Then the Quickening activates, repairing the damage and freezing their body…much like your venom does."

That information was all it took for Carlisle's quick brain to realize what was happening to Bella. "But the venom was already turning her into a vampire, so now this Quickening is fighting it?"

"Yes," Walker nodded, sighing softly as he glanced down at Bella, whose face was contorted in agony even as Alice continued to wipe her brow. "Vampire venom cannot affect an Immortal with an active Quickening. The instant it enters our bloodstream it'd be neutralized and the vampire it's from destroyed. Which is part of the reason it almost seems like we're designed to destroy vampires. It takes the Quickening considerably more time to burn through lesser, ordinary poisons, but the much more powerful Vampire venom is vanquished almost instantly." Walker sighed again, "But Bella wasn't an Immortal, she was a Pre-Immortal; her Quickening wasn't active yet. Thus the venom was able to spread and take root in her body, so when her Quickening activated it immediately had to start fighting the venom, which is now fighting back."

"How do we help her?" Alice asked, frowning up at the Immortal. She glanced down at Bella, before looking up again, a speculative look on her face. Edward growled slightly, obviously not liking what she was thinking, but she ignored him. "Should we drain her? Would her Quickening save—"

"That is basically what _I_ will be doing." Walker cut in, nodding slightly. "Getting enough of her blood—and the venom in it—out of her to give the Quickening the upper hand. She'll probably go through a second death from blood loss, but that's something the Quickening can fix easily."

"But shouldn't we—"

"You can't drain her," Walker cut Alice off again. "Not only is her blood now laced with venom, but it also has her Quickening surging through it, trying to destroy the venom. If you tried to drain her, the Quickening would destroy you."

* * *

**Methos's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 20, 2005**

Methos was honestly more than a little surprised that the Cullens were still arguing with him. That they cared for Bella enough to do so.

The caring for _Bella_ part wasn't at all surprising. He'd grown to care for her, feel protective of her, after only a few hours in her presence several months ago.

But from the time he'd spent in the company of the Volturi, he'd never really thought vampires were capable of gentler emotions.

"Please," Methos murmured after a long moment of silence. "_Go_. I will look after Bella." Seeing every single one was hesitating still, he went on quickly; "And if you return tomorrow evening you can probably still be here when she finally wakes. She may not even wake until the following morning. Her Quickening may need time to recover from this."

"We'll go." Carlisle spoke up before any of his family members could protest. "And we'll return tomorrow, after sundown." Then he cocked his head to the side a bit. "What should we tell her parents?"

Methos frowned, "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Esme gasped, shaking her head. "But she'll be like you, right? Like a human—"

"She will be an _Immortal_." Methos cut the lady off; ignoring the slight amount of inexplicable remorse he felt when he saw the hurt look on her face. "She'll never age again. And it's likely that many of the changes brought on by the venom will still be there. Not all, certainly. She won't need to drink blood and her strengths will come from her Quickening, rather than Vampirism. But it's still something her parents would notice. As far as all of the mortals of her childhood are concerned, she is now dead. Just as if she'd become a vampire."

"He's right," the vampire with war experience, Jasper, spoke up. "His kind has to live like us. At least a little. If they didn't, they would have come to humanity's attention—and the Volturi's—long ago."

"The Volturi are no threat to me, despite their endless efforts to horde power," Methos chuckled, again going on before any of them could question his amused retort. "But people fear that which they do not understand. And my kind _wants_ to live among the mortals. It's the only way we know to live. Other than actively headhunting."

"Head—"

Methos cut the largest vampire off. "We'll save further explanations for later. Now you'd all best be going. It's better not to put this off anymore than we have to."

"Why?" the very pretty blonde asked, speaking for the first time since he'd arrived.

As if in answer, yet another scream burst out of Bella's mouth, making every single vampire flinch, though most of them covered it up almost too quickly for Methos to spot. Almost.

Methos sighed, "I'd rather not prolong her suffering any longer. Now go...please."

Slowly each of the vampires turned towards the door and left the room, each shooting a glanced towards Bella's tortured form as they went.

Dr. Cullen stopped at the door to wait for the one vampire that hadn't turned to leave. "Edward…"

"I won't attack her," the bronze-haired boy protested firmly, his eyes desperate, locked on Methos, as he spoke over his father. "I swear. I just want to be here for her."

Methos stared at him for several long seconds, honestly surprised at the honesty and the depth of the sincerity and desperation he saw in the child's eyes. Finally he answered, "If you attacked her, how would you feel?"

"Awful, of course, what does th—"

"And do you imagine Bella would feel any better if she attacked you? If she was in any way responsible for your death?" Methos pressed, calling on the more ruthless side of his nature to drive the young lover off.

Edward gulped unnecessarily, "But it's her blood that's dangerous. And I won't—"

"It's _not_ her blood." Methos shook his head. "It's her Quickening. And yes, that's in the blood. But it's also suffused in every cell of her being. A defensive force that attacks super-human threats, like vampires, when it feels threatened. And while she's like this she _can't_ control it. Right now, she doesn't even know she needs to. Not yet."

"But you said we could be here when she wakes!"

"And you can." Methos confirmed, now letting his tone take a turn towards calming rather than harsh. "Because when she wakes the odds of her Quickening lashing out at you are very low. But immediately after it's finished fighting off vampire venom and the changes that that venom caused? It could very well strike out at you, and destroy you." He nodded towards the door, where Carlisle Cullen was still waiting. "Think of how you'd feel if you hurt or killed Bella. And imagine making Bella feel that way."

Edward looked down at the floor for a moment, and then glanced over at Bella for a much longer couple of seconds. Finally he looked up at Methos again, "Take care of her, please."

"Of course."

Then, his expression tremendously tortured, Edward turned and left the room.

His father—Sire, or whatever Carlisle really was to Edward—followed him out, nodding to Methos before closing the bedroom door behind him before he, too, exited the building.

Methos looked down at Bella's suffering form again, and sighed. "Okay, kid. Time to get to work."

* * *

**Bella's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 21, 2005**.

Bella didn't know how long she had been screaming and whimpering.

How long she'd wanted everything to just _end_.

She felt every second of it.

Fire and acid were coursing through her veins and through her heart with each of its frantic beats. The acid seemed to be sinking into her body while the fire shot through it in powerful pulses.

Occasionally her hearts frantic beats would stop for a moment, and the pain would go with it. But then the fire would explode in her heart, and it would start all over again.

Every now and then the acid in her veins would loose its purchase on different parts of her body, and those body parts would start to feel better. But then her frantic heart beat would push more venom into that body part and the struggle began anew.

But worst of all, she couldn't hear Edward any more.

When the change had first started, he'd been there every time she'd been aware of the world around her. Carrying her, holding her hand or stroking her brow. Talking to her, encouraging her. And apologizing, a lot of apologizing, which was clearly something they'd have to talk about. This wasn't Edward's fault, after all.

Yet at least she'd been able to hear the wonderful timbre of his voice. Feel the cool, comforting touch of his skin. And every now and then her nose would catch a note of his smell.

But any awareness she had of the outside world had vanished a long time ago.

She couldn't see him—her eyes had been locked shut not long after her change had begun. Carlisle had encouraged her to close them and she'd complied. Then she'd never had the desire to open them again.

She couldn't feel him. All she could feel was the fire—pure fiery energy and the liquid fire that were fighting for dominion inside her body. Nothing existed outside of that fire.

She couldn't hear him. All she could hear was the terribly frantic beat of her heart, pounding in her head.

And she couldn't smell him. As far as she knew her nose wasn't even there anymore.

Bella let out a loud scream when something suddenly stabbed into her chest, momentarily distracting her from the all-consuming pain of the fires. Her heartbeat somehow accelerated with that strike, and the fires seemed to rush towards it. She screamed again as whatever had stabbed her was yanked out of her body, sobbing as the fires continued to congregate around the wound.

After several long moments, however, she realized the pain was starting to ebb. The liquid fire: the acid or poison or whatever it was, was starting to go away. Out the hole.

But the fiery energy was still burning frantically around the wound.

She didn't know how long she was like that, either, waiting for the fires to go out.

But finally the world went dark.

* * *

**The End of **_**Prologue: First Death**_**.**

**AN: Well, there's the prologue. What'd you think? Is it worth continuing?**

**Notes From Within The Chapter****:**

**(1) "Hole-in-the-Rock as a natural geological formation in Papago Park, a municipal park of Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona. **

**(URL: ** wiki/Hole-in-the-Rock_(Papago_Park)**)**

**(2) Are Bella Swan and Alexa Bond really all that similar? I don't know, we only saw her a little bit in Highlander. Was she even in any episode either then the one Methos found out she was dying in and decide to take her traveling around the world? I don't remember. But what I do remember is that she didn't want to start dating 'Adam Pierson' because she was dying, and that it took a lot of persuading from Methos to convince her that she didn't have to protect him by not allowing a relationship to form. A key point of Bella's personality, to me at least, was that she was always much more concerned about others than she was for herself: very self-sacrificing. The main exception being Jacob, since she wouldn't pick him over Edward, and could only be a friend to him… So in that respect, at least, I think they're similar. And I wanted to give Methos a reason to be really protective of her. Will this lead to romance between them? Probably not. I'm pretty committed to the canon Twilight pairings, for this fic at least. But who knows, my muses may throw me a curve ball later on…**

**(3) Phoenix, Arizona "is the capital and largest city in the US state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populous state in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,567,924 residents, and is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area (also known as The Valley of the Sun), the 12th largest metro area by population in the United States with 4,281,899 residents... Residents are known as Phoenicians. Located in the northeastern reaches of the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix has the hottest climate of any major city in the United States. The average high temperatures are over 100F for three months out of the year, and have spike over 120F (50C) on occasion."**

**(URL: ** wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona**)**

**(4) **_**Bambini della tempesta**_***, or **_**Storm Children**_** – Honestly the idea of Immortals and Vampires existing in the same world but never running into each other or seriously hearing about each other didn't make a lot of sense to me. So I started thinking about how they might've met. **

**Add to that the idea of vampires, as Stephenie Meyer wrote them, needing or even just wanting to hide from humans—keep their presence unknown, seems ridiculous to me. OK, so humans might, someday, invent something capable of harming a vampire. But why would the Volturi enforce that one rule thousands of years ago?**

**Thus the idea of the 'Immortals Treaty with the Volturi' was born. The Immortals don't want mortals noticing vampires, because then mortals will be more likely to notice the more human Immortals amongst them. **

**Then I started thinking about the Quickening. And how **_**that**_** might interact with vampires. The idea of the Quickening being able to kill a vampire really just appealed to me and my muses. I'm not sure where it came from, but I do like it. At first I was just going to say that any vampire that tries to kill an Immortal is pretty much guaranteed immediate destruction. If the drink any of the Immortal's blood, which is full of the Quickening, they explode. They kill the Immortal without feeding, the Quickening activates and still goes after the vampire. They manage to decapitate the Immortal, and the Quickening really goes nuts—and the vampire definitely dies.**

**I don't know, that's where I am so far on all this. Let me know what you think, about the story and my ideas.**

**Thank you! **

**Bye for now! ^_^**

**~ Jess S**

**Next: **_**Chapter 1: Welcome to Eternity**_**.**


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Eternity

Disclaimer: _Highlander_ belongs to (?). Twilight (series) belongs to Stephanie Meyer. NOT ME! (Obviously)

Summary: How might Bella Swan and Edward Cullen's relationship have played out if she hadn't been just a human, but actually a pre-Immortal?

Author's Note: Firstly, I have changed the Prologue a bit, so if you're just coming back to this story as I've posted Chapter 1, you should re-read it. It's a little longer with a few more things added in, and I'm pretty sure I got rid of most of the grammatical errors. If anyone's interested, I could use a beta-reader for this story though…

Now without further ado, enjoy the story! ^_^

* * *

**An Eternal Life**

** By Jess S **

_**Chapter 1: Welcome to Eternity**_

**Methos's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 21, 2005**

"No Mac, just stay in Paris. We'll be there tomorrow."

"_But Me—_"

"_Mac!_" Methos cut him off, not quite as irritated as he made his voice sound. It _did_ irritate him that MacLeod was only to willing to throw his oldest name about in casual conversations, but the Highlander's contrasting desires were throwing him a little too much—and tickling his sense of humor just enough to make it hard—for him to be angry with the younger Immortal.

The Highlander absolutely _refused_ to believe in the existence of vampires. Perhaps his experiences with Nicholas Ward played some part in it. Mac hadn't mentioned him, and Methos only knew of him because he'd perused MacLeod's chronicles before they'd met. His young friend's explanation for his certainty that vampires didn't exist was very simply: he'd never met one.

At the same time, however, the Highlander was adamant about coming across the Atlantic to protect the world's oldest and youngest Immortals from whatever this threat—that couldn't actually be vampires—was.

Methos sometimes wondered how MacLeod could possibly believe him to be in need of even half the protection the Highlander offered. He wondered how Duncan MacLeod thought he'd made it through five-thousand-plus-years without him.

But, at the same time, it was nice knowing his friend cared.

"We'll be fine. The Cullens aren't coming back until after nightfall, and we'll be flying over the Atlantic by then. Provided our tickets are waiting for us." Methos hinted.

MacLeod sighed, "_They will be. Are you—_"

"I'm quite sure, thank you. We don't want to overwhelm the poor girl anymore than we have to, do we?"

"_No,_" the Highlander paused, undoubtedly considering his next words but then he plundered on anyway. "_Does she really believe this nonsense about vampires this cult—_"

"They're not a cult. And _I_ believe in vampires, too, MacLeod. Just because you haven't seen them doesn't mean they're not real. I've been around a lot longer than you, remember?"

"_Aye, but surely—_"

"I said I'd explain why you haven't seen them before, didn't I? But I'm not doing it over the phone. Book the tickets under Derrick and Mary Devon. Start with _Delta_, but switch to _Air_ _France_ in New York or Boston."

"_You actually have a passport for her?_" the younger Immortal was understandably skeptical.

Forgery was an all-too necessary aspect of immortal life that the Highlander's too-honest soul undoubtedly despised, which meant he probably didn't handle it even half as often as Methos did. Methos _could_ forge the documents himself, if he wanted to. But he didn't need to.

"Not yet. I still have several hours to pick it up."

And Derrick Devon was the only other passport he had on him at this point in time. Still, flying to Europe was a sure way to put some distance between young Bella and the Cullens, and it had the added bonus of giving Bella something she'd need: a pseudonym. Because the Immortals like the Highlander—who never changed their name as a matter of pride—were caught by the Watchers with pitiful ease, and he didn't like the idea of any of the mortal Hunters knowing about her. He knew it was going to be hard enough to talk Bella into training so that she might survive more than a few years in The Game. He certainly didn't want to leave her prey to rogue Watchers as well.

"_Alright, __**Derrick**__,_" MacLeod sighed again, and Methos almost smiled at the irritation in the Highlanders voice. "_When do you want to leave Phoenix?_"

Methos glanced over at Bella, who was now, _finally_, a corpse.

He could sense her Quickening working beneath the surface of her cool skin, still struggling to undo some of the changes the Vampire venom had rendered, though it wouldn't be able to get them all. She should wake some time in the next few hours, but to be safe...

"Anytime after ten A.M. should be fine," he decided, nodding to himself as he eyed the suitcase he'd already packed full of items that he was fairly certain one of the vampires had bought for Bella. Mainly because she just didn't strike him as the overly style-conscious type, and most of the clothes were the height of the current 'in' trends. "Don't get non-stop, though. Get a flight that stops in Philadelphia or Detroit. Maybe Boston."

"_I don't care about the money, Derrick,_" Mac commented, sounding equally bemused and confused, undoubtedly wondering why _Methos_ would think he cared about the money, or care that he cared. Which he didn't.

"_I_ don't care about the money either, Mac," Methos gave a short laugh, rolling his eyes. "But if the Cullens track us to the airport I don't want to give them an easy way to figure out where we went. A connecting flight somewhere else, even if we have to wait a few hours, though a shorter wait'd be preferable, minimizes that possibility."

"_Oh, umm, right._"

And here they came, again, to the problem of MacLeod not wanting to believe in vampires. Still, from the looks of it the Quickening wasn't going to be able to undo too much, and one glance at Bella should convince the Scot that _something_ had changed her. He knew the Quickening couldn't do that, and with a few pictures of Bella before her transformation—a few with the Cullens in the photos, perhaps—should be able to help the Highlander dismiss his stubborn refusal to believe.

...Hopefully.

...Maybe?

Well, all he could do was wait and see!

"We'll see you at _Charles de Gaulle_, then?"

"_And I'll have the barge closed up by then. Though I don't see why we can't stay there._"

Again, Methos rolled his eyes, "You've been there for almost three months now, Mac. I'm pretty sure at least a few head hunters know you're there and might come looking. I don't want them stumbling across my new student. Or me." Then he shook his head. "And there's the Watchers to think about, too."

"_Joe—_"

"Gives you a lot more privacy then most Watchers give their Immortals, but that doesn't mean other Watchers don't occasionally look in on you. And they certainly pay attention to anyone you interact with for any length of time. Me especially, since they know I'm an Immortal now, though Joe says they haven't figured out that I was never mortal while in their ranks to begin with."

The Highlander sighed yet again. "_Alright. Have a safe flight, then. I'll get on the phone with the airport._"

"Thank you." Methos replied, before hanging up and immediately dialing another number, and pressing the phone back to his ear.

The call was answered right after the first ring. "_'Lo?_"

"Jim, how're they coming?"

"_Almost done. Not as good as I'd like though, doc. You sure—_"

"Speed is much more the issue than quality, Jim. As long as they can stand up to scrutiny and are in the system enough to not get any undue attention if they're scanned, I don't care."

"_Right, right._" The mortal yawned.

That was just as understandable as MacLeod's skepticism about vampires, though, Methos _had_ woken him up just a few hours before—in between breaks in the difficult process of draining Bella—to get him to do this. Fortunately, he'd been able to send the forger Bella's picture and the man was quite willing to meet them at the airport, though he'd have to fly from Los Angeles to get them here in time. Not that he cared, since Methos—or Dr. Pierson, since Jim Dolby had met him back when he was still going by that name—was paying him more then enough to cover both the rush and the delivery.

"_You sure ya want me ta give her black hair? She'd make a better red—_"

"Yes, black hair. Brown eyes. And she's lost a little weight since the picture I sent you. It's a bit old."

The one he'd sent had been of Bella before her transformation, as he hadn't wanted to send a picture of her face contorted in agony. Indicating that the picture was old, and therefore Bella was older now, would hopefully lead to an acceptable picture. Though Bella would probably be a lot prettier than anything Jim generated with his computer, that wouldn't draw too much attention: passport photos almost always sucked.

"_Okay, doc,_" Jim agreed easily, "_I'll be flyin' inta Phoenix just before 9 A.M., then._"

"Good, we'll meet you in the luggage claim by half-past."

"_Sure, doc. See ya there._"

"Thank you," and again he hung up quite abruptly, turning his attention back to his soon-to-be student.

Changing Bella's image was important, too. It may or may not throw the Cullens off, but it really should keep anyone from remembering her, when her father—the Police Chief in Forks, Washington—really started looking for her.

He felt bad for both of the mortals that'd adopted Bella, but felt even worse for Bella. She would certainly be very unhappy with being torn away from her family so entirely. Both the mortal parents that'd probably adopted her when she was very young and the family of Vampires that already thought of her as one of their own.

With yet another sigh, Methos left the bedroom in search of a pen and paper. He had a note to write to the Cullens, explaining his and Bella's absence, and his earlier deceit as best he could. He, himself, didn't really care about lying to Vampires, but on the off chance that his student would want to reconnect with them when she was really able, which he felt was a pretty sure possibility, he had to exert the additional effort.

* * *

**Bella's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 21, 2005**

The first thing Bella was aware of as she woke was the startled gasp of air that she unconsciously drew in, filling her strangely-empty feeling lungs. Her lungs ached like she'd held her breath underwater for much too long, only worse. Her throat burned like she was just getting over a sore throat and every muscle in her body, hell even her bones, were throbbing torturously.

Even more strangely, mere moments after her aching head had made note of these pains, they'd quickly begun to fade.

Seconds after awaking she felt perfectly fine, except for a strange headache that was sending a distinct sensation—a _buzzing_—through her sinuses.

Now, she might think she'd become a vampire, if it weren't for the fact that that first breath of surprised air was definitely necessary and she was still breathing. And her throat was no longer burning, either.

She shifted slightly, surprised by the silky feel of whatever she was wearing and how luxuriously soft the sheets and mattress she was lying on were. That told her she was definitely with the Cullens, and not in some hospital.

But what had happened?

James had bitten her! She clearly remembered that. The nomad had tricked her into sneaking away from Alice and Jasper to meet him. Made her think he'd had her mother. But it'd only been a video tape, probably stolen from the closed up house here in Phoenix. Though she didn't actually know if she was still in Phoenix. He'd thrown her around and hurt her a bit.

Then Edward had arrived and started fighting him, but James had gotten away from him and bitten her. Edward had wrestled him away, and she struggled to watch the horrific fight between the two supernatural beings even as liquid fire burned through her veins, emphasizing the agony her body was already in due to her injuries and somehow enhancing everything she was experiencing at the time. Every sight. Every sound. Every smell. And definitely every pain.

What had happened after that?

The pain had overcome her, she hadn't witnessed the end of the fight... or if she had, she had no memory of it.

Given her current circumstances, she thought she was probably with the Cullens, which would mean Edward had won.

But then again, what would stop the nomads from seizing luxurious surroundings? Though why James might spare her and apparently _not_ turn her into a vampire would be quite a mystery.

She _thought_ it was much more likely Edward had won. It hadn't looked like he was winning when she lost consciousness, but perhaps the others had shown up? With Emmett and Jasper there to help, or even just Jasper and Alice, James wouldn't have stood a chance…

Still, she was a bit fearful of opening her eyes. Especially since if any of the Cullens were here Jasper and Alice would almost certainly be among them. Alice would have Seen her awakening. Jasper would have sensed it, and forcibly calmed her already.

Neither had happened.

And Edward, or at least Alice, would have said something by now.

Her buzzing headache had miraculously vanished immediately after all the other aches in her body had, but Bella didn't notice.

But wait. James had broken her leg... It didn't feel broken anymore.

What was going on?!

Just as she was starting to breathe a little more harshly due to rising panic, a non-Vampiric, but vaguely familiar voice spoke up. "You know, I've had to play dead several times before. Faked sleeping more then a few times, too. Never really found either pastime particularly interesting."

Bella couldn't stop the frown that turned down the corners of her mouth. She certainly hadn't expected to wake up near anyone who _wasn't_ a vampire, especially since she didn't think she was in a hospital.

Maybe the Cullens had found her a really nice and undoubtedly expensive hospital? That was something they'd probably do without a second thought, since money meant nothing to them.

Maybe they'd had to leave for a while because it was too sunny here?

…But couldn't they just pull the shades?

Had they finally realized she wasn't worthy of their attention and stopped her transformation because they didn't want her around for eternity? Had they left her? Had Edward left her?

The slightly familiar but not remotely Vampiric voice spoke up again after a sigh. "I have been waiting for you to wake up for several hours now, Bella. Least you could do is show me the courtesy of a little conversation, I think."

She still couldn't place the voice, but somehow hearing it helped her calm down enough to realize he was right. So she opened her eyes and looked over towards the man, only to blink as she recognized him. "Dr. Walker?"

The handsome man smiled ruefully as he raised an eyebrow at her. "I distinctly recall telling you to call me 'Adam,'" he chided her, shaking his head slightly. "Which you've done by email now for several months. Is it really so difficult to remember to do so in person?"

Bella blinked again, "N-No," she stuttered even as she shook her head, still surprised. "But what are you—" she looked around, noting that this definitely wasn't a hospital. It looked like the kind of house the Cullens might favor. "Where—?"

The doctor cut in with a still rueful smile. "We're still in Arizona. Little ways outside of Phoenix. Your friends, the Cullens, rented this house a few days ago to give you a place to recover."

Bella couldn't help but blink again, "Re-Recover?" she looked around as she said this, still half expecting to see at least one of the Cullens appear now that she knew they _had_ brought her here. "Why–? Where—?"

"Miss Alice Cullen was kind enough to give me a call. Apparently she found my card in your purse and thought I might be able to help you. I was happy to oblige." The older man shook his head before he continued. "I'm afraid I did have to ask the Cullens to leave us be for a time. Their presence wasn't a good idea, given the various... conditions, all around."

"Conditions?" Yet again, she blinked. "You know...?"

Adam nodded again as she trailed off. "I know a great deal more then most people. If you're asking if I know that Dr. Cullen and his, um, family, are vampires, then yes, I do." Then he sighed. "But that wasn't, really, the problem with their being here. Or with seeing them in the near future."

"What—?"

"Their condition wasn't the problem, you see. Ours is. Though theirs' certainly doesn't help."

Bella frowned at him, annoyed at how he was talking around whatever he was trying to say and only succeeding in confusing her. "_Our_...condition?"

"Yes, Bella." Adam leaned down from the chair he was sitting in beside her bed, rising a moment later with a gun in hand.

"Wh-What are you—"

"I've tried many different ways of explaining this. But I'm afraid a demonstration always seems to end up being the best way. Please just watch. Then I shall explain."

"Explain wha—" Bella cut herself off with a shriek as her eyes widened in horror when the friendly doctor directed the gun towards his heart and pulled the trigger.

She screamed as the man fell backward as the shot echoed around the room and blood bloomed rapidly out from the hole in his chest while the gun fell from his hands and down onto the floor somewhere.

Bella continued staring for several seconds, her horrified eyes locked on the corpse, before she tried to shake herself out of it.

Before she could do anything else though, her too observant eyes widened even further as what looked like little lightning bolts began dancing around the hole in his chest. A second later what must be the bullet popped out of his chest. Another second and the spring of blood stopped spewing the terribly precious liquid and, as far as her eyes could see, the hole was gone. The little sparks of lightning stopped then and the doctor gave a full-body start, before he suddenly sat up, grumbling incoherently.

As she stared at him, the girl thought that her eyesight certainly seemed to have distinctly improved somehow, and she thought her hearing had too. Unfortunately, so had her smell. And with that much blood so close to her, her shocked psyche could only offer one response.

"Oh good, you lis—"

But Bella heard no more as her eyes rolled back into her head and unconsciousness claimed her once again.

**Edward's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 21, 2005**

Edward tapped his fingers impatiently on his thigh, eyes fixed on the road Carlisle was driving them down, with Alice in the front passenger's seat and Jasper and Emmett on either side of him. Just to keep him from doing anything rash, like jumping through the windshield, or the roof, or a window, and running ahead of them.

Esme and Rosalie were in the car behind them.

Going to get cars had been Rosalie's idea: something to do while they waited for the time of their forced-leave to end. And, as Dr. Walker clearly was much closer to a mortal-human in physical abilities than they were, it was reasonable to assume that Bella would be too. So cars were a good idea.

Though why they thought it unwise to let him run ahead Edward did not understand.

He briefly, foolishly considered leaping out through the windshield and dashing onward faster than the cars could move along without drawing attention, but of course Alice caught him before he could even think it through.

_Don't even think about it, Edward._ Their Seer turned her head slightly, to glare at him. _We're returning as a family. As we already discussed._

Edward didn't sigh, though he wanted to. "Have you seen anything yet, Alice?" he asked, though he really didn't expect a positive reply.

"No." Was her expected, flat response.

Apparently her gift didn't work well on these Immortals, because Alice could hardly see anything about Bella and Dr. Walker.

"I can't see either of them…" she trailed off as her attempt to look at their future a different way, on them arriving at their destination, which yielded an unexpected—and very unwelcome—result.

And a growl from Edward's throat.

Jasper and Emmett immediately grabbed him, easily securing him in place by force, while all their worried eyes went to Alice.

"What's wrong?" Carlisle asked, concern heavy in his tone.

Alice shook her head, frowning deeply as she started trying to scan for Bella again, with no luck. "The house, it's already empty. They're not there."

* * *

**Methos's POV – Airport in Phoenix, Arizona – March 21, 2005**

Methos shook his head, fixing a slightly rueful expression on his face as he leaned forward just a little, to block the concerned parking attendant's view of Bella. "No, she's fine. Just had a late night last night." He rolled his eyes, feigning fond exasperation. "She always does this when we travel—stays up too late the night before, I mean. I think she just wants to make sure she'll pass out on the plane, since she hates flying. Makes it a bit boring for me, though."

The other man chuckled, "My daughter hates flying, too. Drugs herself up on Dramamine every time to knock herself out."

"Oh, Mary does that, too," Methos nodded, chuckling along with the mortal, before shooting a glance at the passenger's seat as Bella started to stir. "I better go, though. Don't want to back up your line."

He left it unsaid that he didn't want to get in trouble with his 'wife,' but the mortal clearly drew the intended conclusion, as he was laughing while he waived Methos into the garage.

"Have a nice vacation, Mr. Devon."

"Thanks!" Methos replied as he drove by, casually coasting along as he looked for a parking spot with one eye, the other focused on his new student. He'd fully expected her to wake up around now, or a little earlier, so it worked out perfectly. "Feeling any better, Bella?"

"Adam?" the teenager blinked at him confusedly for several seconds, before her eyes widened. "You shot yourself!"

Methos nodded, "I did."

"You-you," she shook her head, giving him a once over with a frown before demanding, "How are you alive?"

"Same way you are, Bella. I'm Immortal," Methos smirked as he emphasized again: "Just like you."

Somehow her deep-brown eyes widened even further. "L-Like _me?_"

He only nodded, cruising by yet another parking spot. This was not, after all, a conversation he wanted overheard. And there was a lesser chance of Bella trying to run away from him with they were in a moving vehicle; especially since the doors and window were locked and she couldn't get out of the car without crawling over him or breaking glass with her fists. He'd ensured that the locking mechanisms in her door didn't work from the inside before he'd driven away from the Cullens' rental.

The new Immortal was quiet for a few seconds, her eyes darting around their surroundings, but not really registering them. Finally she asked, "Like vampires?"

Methos shook his head. "Not exactly. As you saw earlier, by getting shot in the chest—"

"You shot yourself!" she repeated again, sounding no less shocked the second time then she had the first.

"Yes, I did," he agreed again, before going on. "And it made me fall down, dead, with a bloody hole in my chest."

"B-But—"

"But I got up again afterwards. That's what we do. What we are." Methos reached up and pulled the loose sweater he was wearing down enough to show the area of his chest over his heart, where he'd shot himself earlier, was wound and scar free. No sign of the fatal wound he'd inflicted on himself. "You saw the little lightning bolts that came out of my chest?"

Bella was busy staring at his chest as she nodded, her impossibly wide eyes not leaving the unblemished spot even as he let his sweater slide back into place and put both of his hands back on the wheel.

"That was my Quickening."

"…Quickening?" she repeated the word like she was trying it out, still half-confused, half-amazed.

"Yes. You have one, too. It's how we sense each other—that buzzing sensation in your sinuses that doesn't quite hurt?" Methos glanced at the teenage girl again in time to see another blink, her large eyes disappearing behind long lashes as he kept cruising through the well-lit garage. "It's what keeps us alive, un-aging, after out first death."

"First death?" Bella repeated, her words whisper soft.

"Yes; what you just went through." Methos sighed, shaking his head. "Though yours was considerably longer than most." He turned onto another level of the garage, carefully steering clear of going towards the first floor, just going around and around for however long it took her to understand and cooperate. Though he hoped he was right in his original estimation of how smart and sensible the girl was, having to reschedule their flights and such would be irritating, even without a vampire coven on their tails.

"…I died." Bella said, softly again.

It wasn't a question. It was that astonished, first instant when the child started to accept their reality, even as impossible as it seemed compared to everything she'd known before.

Then again, Bella had it better than most. Since she was dating a vampire—a different kind of Immortal—before her first death. Thus the concept of eternity was within the realm of possibility in her mind already. In theory.

"Yes," Methos nodded again. And, reassured by just how calmly she was taking the news, he finally turned into a spot, shifting the car into park, though he didn't turn it off yet. Then he turned his complete attention to his student, only to frown as he watched her brow furrow.

"But the nomad, James…he bit me."

Methos was getting a little tired of nodding. Though his Quickening didn't let such simple actions pain him long, but he nodded again nonetheless. "Yes, he did. But we can't become vampires."

Those impossibly wide, deep eyes rose from his sweater-covered chest to his serious eyes. "We can't?"

"No. The Quickening won't allow it." He told her firmly, before gesturing to the overhead mirror she could flip down. "But it did change you, a bit, since it was in your system before your Quickening woke."

Bella's gaze snapped away from his, one hand automatically darting up to flip the passenger's shade down, only for her eyes to—impossibly, but somehow—widen even more as she gaped at her reflection.

Methos wasn't surprised. The changes were rather noticeable, after all, though she could only see the ones on her head: her face and hair at the moment.

Her complexion had always been pale, but now it was flawless, smoothed and blended by burning venom. The small amount of baby-fat that'd still been left on her face and form had melted away, too, making her look more like an early-twenty-something-year-old than a teenager. Which wasn't a bad thing, considering this was the face she'd have to wear for the rest of her hopefully very, very long life.

Of course, that wasn't the most surprising change.

"How is my hair black?" Bella demanded, the outrage in her words making Methos chuckle before he could stop himself, attempting to cover it with a cough as she turned to glare at him.

There were worse things for her to notice after all. He was sure she'd be much, much more horrified when she realized he'd changed her attire from the fancy dress the vampires had put her into before to the comfortable traveling clothes she was wearing now.

"You'll learn that disguise is something we have to be good at, to fit in, just like your Cullens attempt to. Though we're undoubtedly better at it; considering our decidedly more human appearance."

"But—"

"We're at the airport," Methos indicated the parking garage around them. However, from where he'd parked you really couldn't see anything other than the wall in front of them and cars on either side. "We have a flight to catch."

"But—"

"You don't want to hurt your friends, do you? Or your boyfriend?"

Her eyebrows drew together again as she shook her head vehemently. "Of course not! But why—"

"The Quickening is more than just something that heals us, Bella. It's our power, and a defense mechanism. It doesn't hurt normal humans because it doesn't typically sense them, and even those it does aren't really seen as a threat. But it can sense other Immortals, and vampires." Methos paused, taking a deep breath even as he waited to see if she'd objected again, but she was staring at him once more now. "The Cullens weren't harmed before, because your Quickening was dormant until the first time your heart stopped. After that, it was fighting the vampire venom in your body—a powerful poison—but it had no reason to leave your body. Now, if you're ever injured near a vampire, that won't be the case."

Her eyes took on a distant look, and he wasn't sure if she was picturing the vampires or the lightning bolts that'd closed the hole in his chest earlier. Neither would surprise him. Although he didn't yet know her well enough to reasonably predict how her mind worked, particularly in a situation such as this. One afternoon spent chatting in a museum and a few months of correspondents by email weren't really enough for that.

"If you get hurt anywhere near them, before you learn to control your Quickening—which is not easy—then your Quickening will probably attack your friends. And blast them apart into irreparable diamond-like-ashes. Something as small as a paper-cut near your friends could end them all."

Bella blinked at him slowly now, and the horror in her eyes was unmistakable. And entirely expected.

Good. They were getting somewhere.

"I'm willing to help you, Bella." Methos told her, putting as much conviction into his voice as he could. And with all the acting he'd done before now, atop all that'd experienced in his long life: that was quite a lot. "And maybe, some day, you'll be able to see them again, safely. But to do that, you'll have to trust me now."

He held her gaze for several moments, even though his mind was going over more arguments he could use to try and get her to accept him if this one, and the natural inclination of most new Immortals—to trust the first elder Immortal they met—didn't hold out.

But thankfully, Bella nodded slowly, making him smile gently even as he glanced at the car's clock before turning it off and finally pulling the key out of the ignition.

_9:19 A.M._

"Great, we actually have time to catch our flight then," Methos grinned at his new student, and wasn't surprised when he got a slightly uncertain, half-grin back. "From this point forward—till we get to Paris, at least—we're Derrick and Mary Devon, alright?"

That got another blink. "Paris?"

"Yes, Mary, Paris. La capitale de la France! Beautiful city, I'm sure you'll enjoy driving through it." Then he winced, "Though the traffic'll probably suck, considering when we'll be getting in."

"We're not staying there?"

"No, large cities aren't usually the safest place for us. Especially for new kids, like you." Methos shook his head. "One of the many things I'll be happy to explain, once we reach the safety of my chateau."

* * *

**Bella's POV – C.D.G. Airport, Paris, France – March 22, 2005**

Bella was barely listening as the pilot finished his farewell spiel in English, and she tuned him out completely as he switched to French.

"That's another thing we'll be working on," Dr. Walker commented softly from his first class aisle seat next to her.

They'd flown coach from Phoenix to Washington, and Washington to New York City, but for the flight over the Atlantic Adam had splurged a little, she hadn't asked why. Most of the last day she'd just taken as it came, one shock after the next. It seemed easier that way.

Bella blinked as she realized he'd said something and she hadn't responded yet. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'll be giving you as many lessons in languages and linguistics as you can handle, my young friend. It makes fitting in—or standing out—in most places, so much easier if you have at least half a dozen languages under your belt, and accents as well."

Bella followed his lead and rose to her feet as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, accepting her carry on from him and shouldering her purse, which'd been under the seat, before following him off the plane. She nodded to the stewardesses as they past them, the first passengers off the flight. She kept following Adam's lead, all the way down to baggage claim, eyeing him speculatively all the while, her curiosity caught by his comment. As they stepped off the gangplank, she asked him: "You're not really English, are you?"

Adam chuckled, "No, I'm not. That just happens to be one of the easier accents to throw at people. But no, I'm afraid I was born long before England; though that's the only hint I'll give you as to my age, for now."

Bella knew she was gaping at the older—apparently much, much older—man wound her free arm around his and gently led her through the busy airport. She fought to gain control of her features, even as his actions yet again reminded her of Edward—ever the gentleman—and made her swallow a little.

It also reminded her of just how much easier walking was now. Somehow, either almost becoming a vampire or becoming an Immortal had cured her of the klutziness that'd plagued her all her life. She hadn't tripped, over her own feet or anything else; since she'd woken up in the Phoenix airport. Somehow, this was more astonishing to her than the idea that she'd never age again, even though she wasn't a vampire now.

…Or maybe it was just easier to comprehend?

Bella really didn't know.

She blinked as she successfully stepped onto the escalator Adam led her to, again amazed at the fact that—despite her absent-mindedness—she hadn't done a full face-plant, or even an almost face-plant.

Though she was sure Adam—Derrick—whatever his name really was—would've caught her if she'd started to. He'd caught her every time she'd tripped in the museum that day they'd met.

"Come on," the older Immortal indicated their new direction with a nod when they reached the bottom the escalator. "We're meeting Duncan in baggage claim."

He'd obviously been to Paris—and this particular airport—before, because it was a good minute before she saw any signs about baggage claim…though, then again, maybe some of the signs she'd seen in French without translations had been leading the way. [2]

Bella thought she was getting a headache for a second, as they stepped onto another escalator, which took them down to baggage claim. But a second later she noticed her friend was looking around with barely concealed wariness, and realized that the buzzing sensation in her sinuses didn't actually her. It was just…odd.

And it meant that someone was nearby.

Another Immortal?

She hadn't been able to pick anyone out of the crowd when she felt her teacher relax. How was she supposed to recognize someone she'd never seen before anyway? The buzzing thing didn't really seem to point towards anyone as far as she could tell. So she glanced at Adam again, and then followed his line of sight to a tall man who was leaning against the wall near the exit to the parking garage, the two small suitcases Adam had checked in Phoenix, plus one more, at his feet.

He was _very_ handsome. Not a vampire; his eyes were dark, but his skin was tanned and his features didn't look carved, but he was definitely handsome: he looked like the heroes that usually graced the covers of romance novels, usually next to or holding some gorgeous woman. [1]

Bella blushed when his eyes met hers, and the warm smile he offered somehow made him look even more incredible.

"Derrick, good to see you again," the handsome man straightened as they reached him, giving her 'teacher' a nod.

Bella looked down when his eyes went back to hers after that, and she was sure her cheeks were as red as they'd ever been now. He even _sounded_ like she thought one of the mighty warriors in some of those books would sound!

And she thought being around the male Cullens, with their voices that somehow sounded like music, was bad!

She realized, now, that a part of her was always aware of just how unnatural that musicality was. It was just another thing meant to lure in a vampire's prey, and a subconscious part of her was always aware of that. No matter how much she adored them.

"And you must be Mary?" the Scotsman's voice was markedly gentle as he greeted her, and she looked up again to see that his dark eyes were as soft as his voice.

She nodded slowly, not sure she wanted to try speaking around him just yet.

Next to her, Adam chuckled. "Yes, this is Mary. Mary, this is Duncan MacLeod."

"Pleasure," Duncan smiled as he bowed, gently catching her free hand to place a soft kiss on its back before letting it go as he rose again.

Dear God, how was she supposed to even be in the same room as this man without blushing?!

"I see you got our bags, did you get the rental, too?"

"Aye, a course" Duncan nodded, pulling a key out of one of his trench coat's pockets and tossing it to Adam's free hand. "Though I don't see why all of this subterfuge is necessary." The almost whining somehow didn't make him sound any less wonderful as he leaned down and grabbed all three suitcases, swinging over his shoulder and holding the other two in his hands, before waiving them out the door ahead of him, though he immediately stepped up along Bella's other side once they were outside.

"You don't have to come, MacLeod."

"Maybe I don' have ta," Duncan agreed, his accent heavy in the gruffly warm words, "But I want to."

"If you wish," Adam let the matter drop immediately, though Bella couldn't tell for sure if he was pleased or resigned by his friend's loyalty.

Bella let the two men guide her to where they were obviously picking up their car, which turned out to be one of those cute little cars that she'd always heard were popular in Europe. She let Adam put her in the front seat, and watched as he moved around to the driver's side even as Duncan folded his tall-self into the backseat. She probably would've protested, insisting that he sit in the front instead of her, if she felt comfortable talking to the handsome man.

"So, how's Joe doing?" Adam asked as he turned the car on, not bothering to buckle his seatbelt. Duncan didn't either.

"He's fine. And no, I didn't tell him about this. Just that I'll be out of town for a few days."

"I'm sure he took that well," Adam chuckled as he pulled out of the garage and flipped the wipers on when rain started to spatter on the windshield. "Though better than any of the other Watchers will when they realize he just let you go off to who-knows-where."

Bella focused her attention on Adam, frowning as she curiously asked, "Watchers?"

* * *

**Edward's POV – Logan Airport, Boston, U.S.A – March 22, 2005**

"Excuse me, Miss?" Carlisle took the lead again as they followed the faint traces of Bella and Walker's scents to yet another departure gate. He was always the best at handling humans, for many understandable reasons, though Jasper was also focusing on the human Carlisle had chosen to approach, hoping his empathetic influences would be enough to make her able to help them, knowingly or not.

The woman their father had decided to approach—who was dressed in the uniform of the same airline that obviously flew out of this gate—had looked up as soon as Carlisle had addressed her. But it took her a few seconds to respond, since she was busy staring at all of them in startlement, Edward following her thoughts all the while as she processed just how strangely beautiful they all were, awe giving way to a bit of fear almost immediately, despite Carlisle's friendly approach. It was only natural, though.

Bella was the only human they'd ever met that didn't seem to fear them instinctively…but then again, according to Walker she'd never been human. From what he'd told them, and what his letter had said, she'd always been intended for Immortality; it just wasn't until her heart stopped that she changed from an aging almost-human to what he was: a full Immortal.

"Y-Yes, sir?" the airline woman finally asked. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm afraid we're a bit lost." Carlisle responded smoothly, using the same story they'd used previously to figure out where Bella and Walker had gone. "We thought this was our departure gate. Did the plane leave already?"

If there was a plane already there, then they would've had to alter their story a bit. But they'd already looked at the departure board, and now they were hoping this woman had been at this gate all day, and had seen everyone who'd boarded, so Edward could see her memory of which plane Bella and Walker had boarded.

Three had left her, in the three and a half hours since the plane from Phoenix before there's had arrived.

The last bound for Georgia, the one before that for California, and the earliest possibility in the opposite direction: across the Atlantic, headed for France.

From how faint the scent was, France seemed likely. But they couldn't afford to head that way till they were sure the pair hadn't gone west instead, or they might never catch up with them.

"Oh, yes. The one for L.A.X left almost half-an-hour ago, sir." In response to the curiosity Jasper deliberately made her feel, she asked. "Were you headed there? Or to New York? That's the next flight from here, but it doesn't leave for almost two hours." She finished, indicating the schedule behind her desk.

"Uh, no. Not New York," Carlisle responded carefully, waiting for whatever help his gifted children could offer.

Edward couldn't help, the woman—her name was actually Tina, he realized, from her thoughts, though her nametag told them that, too, but—she wasn't thinking anything they could use.

In Phoenix, it'd been easier: the airline attendant had been stewing about an incident that'd happened with the passengers of the plane Walker had taken Bella on. They hadn't been the problem: a different passenger had, but Edward had seen Bella and Walker in the background of the man's memories, because Bella's beauty had made the man notice her.

This time, though, it was Alice who came to the rescue, after quickly foreseeing the results of asking after each plane. "No, we need to get to Paris for Fashion Week!" she whined at the woman, making her blink and frown. "There's nothing in New York right now!" [3]

Edward watched Tina's thoughts carefully, even as Jasper struggled to keep her feeling helpful and concerned rather than annoyed at his wife.

Thankfully; it was enough.

The woman thought about the plane for Paris, which'd left over three hours ago, and among the first to board the plane were the first-class passengers: Walker and Bella—now very memorable because the vampire venom had made her almost as beautiful as a full vampire—had been among them.

"And I have a rather important business deal there," Carlisle interjected, projecting clear concern. "My assistant assured me that the airline indicated there was a plane leaving here soon, perhaps she was in error? Will another flight for Paris be leaving soon?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but the plane for Paris left _hours_ ago." Tina told them unnecessarily, turning towards her computer. "I can check for when the next departure there will be?"

"Please," Carlisle said immediately, his tone polite and friendly still as he stepped between the woman and Alice, knowing that Jasper would have an easier time making Tina act as helpful as possible if she wasn't annoyed.

It might make Edward wonder why Alice had gone for whiny, but he already knew. It got the best result in her sight: made the woman remember what they needed her to, rather than dancing around the subject longer to make her think of the passengers on the prior plane.

A few moments later, the woman sighed, though Edward and Alice had already deflated a little since she'd already seen the woman's response, and Edward had seen it in her mind, too.

"I'm sorry, but the next flight doesn't leave till later tonight." Tina murmured, giving them an apologetic grimace even as she kept her eyes on the computer screen. "There's room on the flight to New York, and a plane leaving a little earlier for Paris from there, if you prefer?" Before Carlisle could reply, she grimaced again. "But there's only first class seats left on that plane?"

"That won't be a problem," Carlisle said instantly. "Can you book our tickets here?"

Normally, Edward could see in her thoughts, she'd redirect them to the actual counter they were supposed to go for that, but with Jasper influencing her so strongly, she was inclined to be helpful.

"Sure…"

* * *

**Bella's POV – Driving through Paris, France – March 22, 2005**

Bella couldn't help but gape, her horrified gaze darting back and forth between her two companions as she tried to process what they'd just told her. "They watch us? All the time? L-Like stalkers or-or peeping-toms?"

"No," Duncan said at the same time Adam snorted, "Yes."

The youngest Immortal frowned at her two elders, more than a little annoyed by Adam's face as he used the excuse of driving to keep his eyes forward so he seemed to be smirking at the traffic ahead of them, while MacLeod was looking sheepishly back at her. "Well, which is it?"

"It depends on the Watcher, really," Duncan said quickly, clearly wanting to answer before Adam could. "Joe, my Watcher, he hasn't really watched me since I found out about the Watchers. He just asks me to keep him up to date on my life; he basically keeps my journal for me. And he's a good friend."

"But," Adam spoke up then. "Most Immortals don't know about the Watchers. So their Watchers _are_ like stalkers and peeping-toms. Following them everywhere, always watching, al—"

"_Methos!_" Duncan snapped, glaring at Adam, only to flinch when the other Immortal's humor vanished instantly and he glared right back at him. "Sorry. But you're scaring her."

"It's a disturbing topic," Adam allowed, hard glare softening as he turned to look back at Bella, giving a compassionate smile. "But it is yet another fact of our lives. You have three choices, really. Either you can befriend the Watchers through MacLeod here, and thus let one record your life story with your consent. Or you can pretend you don't know of their existence, though they will start following you once they realize you're an Immortal, which they will since they know about both of us and it'll be obvious as soon as they see a known Immortal react to your presence, or if you happen to die and get up in front of them."

"…And the third choice?" Bella asked, hoping it was better than the first two, though if she had to pick between them she'd definitely choose the first.

"Or, you can learn how to shake them, which I can teach you." Adam gave her a gentle smile. "It's easier said then done, and requires considerable vigilance and sometimes a lot of creativeness, but it can be done. It will mean, however, that you will have to notice each time one is following you, and you will have to go through the effort of losing them, which frequently means relocating entirely."

Bella frowned as she considered that, looking between the two men. "But you said they know you're Immortals? That they'll know I'm one because I'm around you? Does…Does that mean I'd have to stay away from you, too?" she asked timidly, really not liking the idea of distancing herself from the first two of her kind she'd met.

"There is that," Adam nodded again, before explaining. "The Watchers know Duncan for who he is, they know everything about him—"

"Not everything!" Duncan protested, but was ignored, Adam continuing right over him.

"—and even though he knows of their existence now, and has started some talk of 'a new way' within the Watchers, they're a very, very old organization—there were Watchers as far back as the time of Alexander the Great, when they first started to actively watch Immortals. And their records, born from research, go back even farther than that." Adam sighed, shaking his head. "They know much less about me, though they think they know everything. You see, I infiltrate the Watchers from time to time, to see how they've changed with the times and see what they've learned about us. I had done so just over a decade ago, a few years before I met Mac here."

"They just let you join?" Bella asked, more than a little incredulous. Someone the two ideas didn't seem to mesh in her mind.

"No," Adam chuckled. "They never would've invited me to join if they knew I was an Immortal; they thought I was Immortal. And when I happened to die in front of them, and rise again, they thought I'd been a pre-Immortal and had just gone through me first death then and there." He shrugged. "I, of course, didn't wish to abuse them of that notion and have put up with both their pathetic attempts to follow me since then, and they're requests for direct accounts of my life."

Bella nodded slowly, a little bit bemused by the situation Adam had obviously put himself in. Then another thought occurred to her. "What about the Cullens?" she asked Adam anxiously. "You said I'd be safe around them again, but won't the Watchers be a problem then?"

"There is that," Adam sighed again, shaking his head. "The Watchers are problematic for the very reason that they _know_; more importantly, watching is what they do. They look. They see. And even if they don't notice right away, if you—as a recognized Immortal—hang around the vampires for any length of time, the Watchers will notice that something's different about them. At the very least, they'll think that the Cullens are all our kind of immortals, particularly if they're observed for any length of time, but the more observant Field Watchers will notice right away that they're not the same as us." He pressed his lips together for a second before going on, "And then there's the problem of their laws, and of the Volturi."

"Humans aren't supposed to know about them," Bella nodded slowly. "And even if that's no longer a problem for me, the Watchers are all mortal humans, right? Unless another Immortal has infiltrated them like you did?"

"Yes," Adam chuckled, nodding approvingly again, and sobering as he continued. "And I won't deny that it's quite a predicament. "I realized a long time ago that vampires could be a very great danger to the Watchers. There was a time when I thought that revealing vampires to them might be a good idea, too. A good way to get rid of them all, I mean." He sighed then. "But with that comes the added risk that they might learn more about our kind then I want them to."

"You can't really believe that vampires are real!" Duncan protested suddenly from the backseat, and Bella looked back at him with a frown.

"But they are," she looked back at Adam before the other Immortal could respond. "He doesn't know about vampires?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "No, I've told him. But as he's never met or seen any, he's rather…set against the idea of believing that they exist."

"_Why?_" Bella asked him, blushing and shyness forgotten in the face of the man's unwillingness to believe her friends were what they said they were. And perhaps a bit irritated by the fact that meant he either thought she was a liar or a fool. "Is it so much stranger than the idea of humans who's hearts restart of their own volition after they've stopped? Who will thereafter live forever?"

Duncan sighed, shaking his head. "I can understand that this must all seem very strange to you, lass. But the only time I've ever seen any evidence of a vampire was when a madman was pretending to be one, to cover up the murders he'd committed by making the locals mad with fear and hysteria about such a creature stalking their streets, rather than an average killer that the police could protect them from."

"Nicolas Ward was a clever madman, that's true," Adam interjected, his tone categorically neutral. "But he's dead. And it wasn't pale corpses with big holes in their necks that led to Bella believing in vampires. Her friends don't even drink human blood."

Bella watched Duncan blink, waited for him to process the new facts Adam had given him, and waited for his response.

"What do they drink then?" Duncan wanted to know. "I can't say I've ever heard any tale of supposed vampires feeding from anything else."

"They hunt animals," Bella told him. "Just like human hunters do, but they only drink the animals' blood. They don't eat meet."

"And you've seen them do this?"

"No," Bella admitted, shaking her head. "I couldn't be anywhere nearby when they were hunted, there was too much risk they might attack me by accident, when they let their instincts go. Their natural prey _are_ humans, they just _choose_ not to hunt them."

"Then why are you—"

Bella cut him off, "I have met vampires that _do_ hunt humans. Three nomads were hunting around Forks not long ago; they killed several people. And…" she took a deep breath before continuing. "And they wanted to kill me, too, once they realized I was under the Cullens' protection. One of them left peacefully, not wanting to take on seven of his kind, but the other two… the Cullens tried to protect me from them. Jasper and Alice took me to Phoenix, while the others tried to catch James and Victoria…"

"But they found you in Phoenix?" Adam asked, visibly curious.

Bella wondered what the Cullens had told him, but didn't really want to know. "Yes. James realized I'd gone there. He went to my mother's home and when I called there… he made me think he had her. He told me he'd let her go if I came to him."

"And you agreed?" Adam demanded incredulously, shaking his head, "Why would you—"

"I thought he was going to kill my mother!" Bella cut him off, angry at his incredulity. "I couldn't let that happen if there was a way to stop it?"

"And why, exactly, would he have let her go after killing you?" Adam wanted to know. "He couldn't. She was human, and if he'd been holding her captive, if he killed you in front of her, she'd know he wasn't. It's against the few laws vampires follow to let humans know they exist. He wouldn't have risked it!"

Bella stopped, staring at him in horror as she realized he was right. She'd assumed that the Cullens—that Edward—would eventually turn her into a vampire, and that was why she was an exception to that rule they'd told her about, though they hadn't said so. Her mother would've had no such protection from any vampire, let alone James.

"How did you get away from your protectors, anyway?" Adam asked after she'd been silent several seconds. "Even if it was just Jasper and Alice there, neither struck me as fools and Jasper most of all would've been hard to escape."

"Actually, Alice was harder," Bella answered slowly, shaking her head. "Because of her gift. I had to make sure she couldn't see me trying to escape before I was actually escaping."

Adam frowned at her, "See you…she's a seer?" he nodded slowly once Bella had nodded in confirmation. "Well, that explains a bit. I'd wondered how they'd known to contact me with you in the state that you were in. She must have been so desperate to help you that her gift showed her a way."

"Wait, now we're talking about people actually being able to see the future, too?" Duncan cut in, incredulous again.

Adam responded sharply before Bella could, "You've visited fortune tellers before, MacLeod. You've seen a few of the real one's foretellings become reality. Actual seers are rarer still, but they do exist."

"But—"

"They've been exceedingly rare since the Romans wiped out many of the Greek oracles during their conquest of Greece, but some are still around." Adam turned his attention back to Bella before Duncan could muster a response. "Did becoming a vampire make her foresight stronger? I'd wager it would, since their transformation seems to enhance every other strength they have."

"Yes, Edward said it did." Bella confirmed, feeling a little bad for doing so.

Did she really have the right to reveal her friends secrets to her new friends?

But, even with that doubt in her head, she couldn't help but feel she had to tell her teacher everything she could. She was trusting him with her life at all, and trusting that he'd ensure she'd be able to be with the Cullens again as soon as possible. The least she could do was be truthful with him.

"Interesting," Adam murmured. "I wonder if other such talents are significantly strengthened by their transformation? Maybe abilities we haven't seen among mankind just yet?"

Bella nodded again, before admitting, "Jasper's an empath—he can feel and effect the emotions of others around him. And Edward…Edward can read minds."

Adam stiffened at the last. "_What?_" he demanded, for the first time seeming to doubt her.

"It's true!" Bella insisted. "He could tell me what was happening all around us during school, even though he couldn't possibly see or hear it, and he was always right."

"How could you possibly be comfortable around someone who could read your mind?" Duncan asked, clearly uncomfortable with the idea, enough so that he seemed to be willing to set aside his disbelief about everything else for the moment.

Bella shook her head again. "Well…he couldn't read my mind," she watched both pairs of dark eyebrows shoot up as she glanced back and forth between the two men.

"He couldn't?" Adam asked, looking a little relieved just as suddenly as he'd seemed aghast. "Why not?"

"I don't know," Bella admitted with a sigh. "He said it seemed like I didn't think anything at all. That my mind just wasn't there for him to hear."

"Really…" Adam nodded to himself, visibly mulling this revelation over. "Well, that must be because of your Quickening, I think. And mine as well. Otherwise he would've known I was lying when I said we'd be back at their rental house when they returned. And Miss Alice's gift must not work well on us, too, since she should've seen through my lie, too."

Bella blinked. "You think it's because of what we are?"

"Our Quickening protects us from a great deal," Adam confirmed with another nod as he flicked the car's signal on and switched lanes. "It wouldn't surprise me to find that this was the case. And that even if Alice could foresee your future before, when you were a Pre-Immortal, it's much harder—or even impossible—for her, now that you're a full Immortal." After a few seconds of silence, he glanced at her again, "But enough about that for now. I assume it was this James that bit you, after you'd turned yourself over to him?"

Bella could hear the disapproval in his tone as he finished the question, and stiffened a little at it, but Duncan spoke up before she could say anything.

"It may sound strange to you especially, Adam, but it really isn't," the Scotman pointed out, shaking his head as Adam glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "We've both done it before. It takes courage, but any time a head hunter—or any sort of enemy—has targeted anyone you or I care for, we've fought for them. Is it really so strange that Bella, here, would do same?"

"She wasn't going to fight him," Adam replied, frowning as he switched lanes on the highway again. "She was just going to let him kill her."

"It's not like she knows how to fight, Me—Adam. No really. What else could she do?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "Maybe let the Cullens rescue her mother? They obviously got to her before James could actually kill her, even though they weren't fast enough to stop him biting her." He glanced at her, clearly sympathetic as he continued. "Though it would've been kinder of them to let him drain you. Much less painful than letting the venom turn you into a vampire only to have you Quickening go to war with it when your heart stopped."

Bella flinched as she remembered the long period of agony she'd felt in between when James' had bitten her and she'd woken to find Adam at her bedside. "Is that what happened?" she glanced at her vague reflection in the passengers window. "That's why I look more like one of them now?"

"Yes," Adam confirmed immediately, shooting Duncan a look when he spoke up again.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Later, MacLeod," Adam told him, before continuing to Bella. "It was fortunate I'd seen that happen before, otherwise I might not've known what to do for you."

"Before?" Bella asked the only question that felt safe.

"Yes, a long time ago." Adam looked sad as he explained. "I came to visit a good friend, and found her fretting over a new Immortal who was in the same kind of agony that you were when I arrived. Only she'd been going through that terrible pain for many more days then you by the time I arrived. Why Rebecca didn't just end her suffering before then, I've never understood." He sighed. "But then I couldn't really ask her after what happened."

"Rebecca Horne?" Duncan asked at the same time that Bella asked, "What happened?"

"Yes, Duncan, Rebecca Horne," Adam confirmed, before answering Bella's question more slowly. "We finally figured out that the vampire venom being in her blood was the problem. We bled her till there was no more blood in her body, and let the Quickening heal her after that."

"That's what you did for me," Bella realized, remembering the feeling of the liquid fire draining away and the pain finally stopping. "Didn't it work for her?"

His earlier words made her doubt it, and indeed he was shaking his head in response to her query.

"It did, but it was too late for her," Adam sighed softly, shaking his head. "As I said, she'd been in the terrible agony for far too long. You'd only just gone through the three-day transformation to become a vampire, and your friends called me shortly after you didn't rise as one of them, but little Antonia… Rebecca said she'd gone through her first death a week before I'd arrived. So she'd been in that terrible pain for almost two weeks before we finally figured out how to stop it." He sighed again. "Her mind couldn't handle it, when she finally woke as an Immortal…her mind was broken. She was deaf to everything we said to her. Screaming and shaking with the remembered pain almost non-stop."

"So you killed her," Duncan spoke up softly, his tone both understanding and sad.

Adam sighed yet again. "Almost a month later, yes. Rebecca couldn't do it; but it had to be done. Antonia wasn't getting better, if anything she'd seemed to be getting worse with every passing day. We'd been force-feeding her and making her drink water, doing practically everything to keep her alive, hoping she'd get better. But she wasn't going to. I realized it well before Rebecca, but once she was willing to admit it, yes, I killed her."

Bella was more than a little shaken by the story, by the idea that if Alice hadn't called Adam, and if Adam hadn't known what to do, what he was saying now likely would've been her fate. Or, worse, the Cullens would've realized that she wasn't going to become a vampire, and mercifully killed her like Adam had had to kill that poor Antonia…only her Quickening would've killed all of them in retaliation. Then she realized something out of all that that honestly surprised her, and frowned as Adam. "Wait…we _can_ die?"

Adam and Duncan exchanged a glance, and then sighed in unison, before Adam finally admitted with a nod, "Yes. Yes, we can."

* * *

**Edward's POV – C.D.G. Airport, Paris, France – March 23, 2005**

"Edward?" Alice's inquiry broke him out of his concentration, and he turned his eyes to glare at her. "No one here's seen her, then?"

Edward shook his head.

None of them were surprised though.

They'd followed Bella and Dr. Walker's trail from airport to airport for the last day, unfortunately arriving each time well after they'd flow out. And, despite Carlisle's willingness to spend a ridiculous amount of money to get them across the Atlantic as soon as possible, they'd missed them here, too.

_Charles De Gaul_ was clearly Bella and Walker's ultimate destination, since they'd left the airport entirely here.

The vampires had been able to follow the faint traces of the pair's peculiar scents all the way out to where they'd obviously gotten into a rental car. But the trail ended there, contained within the car they'd driven off in.

The agent at the rental place had been little help, despite their best efforts to bribe him, even under Jasper's influence and Edward watching his every thought the whole time. The man hadn't seen them. So someone else must've picked up the car for them; probably the third scent that'd joined the pair here in Paris, also a little strange like Walker's and Bella's, and likely also one of their kind.

Whoever Walker really was, he was definitely thorough. And either he knew a disturbing amount about vampires in general, explain how he'd been at least one step ahead of every step of the way…or Bella was helping him with their escape.

The last thought hurt them all, Alice and Edward most of all. And it was only through Jasper's continued efforts that Edward was still as calm and rational as he was.

Though it didn't surprise him that Bella seemed to want nothing to do with him after the catastrophe that their baseball game had turned into, Edward still needed to know that she was okay.

They all did.

Though all of them were also more than a little curious about the existence of another immortal race, too.

"Why don't we head into Paris?" Esme suggested after several seconds of silence, shaking her head when her telepathic son frowned at her. "This is where they stopped flying, after all. We might be able to pick up their trail somewhere in the city."

…It wasn't like they really had any other choice.

Other than just giving up.

And Edward wasn't willing to do that.

So his family wouldn't either.

* * *

_**End of Chapter 1: Welcome to Eternity.**_

**Author's End Notes: **

**Well, there's Chapter 1 for you! Hope you enjoyed it. **

**Again, I'd like to say thank you to everyone that's encouraged me to continue this story. The motivation you offered me is probably the only reason this chapter is here, since it took me a long time to get back the writers blocks that made writing this chapter such a struggle.**

**I won't promise a specific timeframe for when a new update might up. I have several fan fics I really have to update before I devote much more time to this one: the poor readers of those fics have waited a lot longer than anyone that might be interested in this one, and I feel really bad about that. I will update as soon as I possibly can.**

**Ideas about where this story might be going are always welcome, and tend to help a lot. I alluded to a lot of possibilities in this chapter, and I've yet to decide just how many I'll actually follow through on. **

**Some of the things I have to consider:**

**- What will Bella's decision regarding Watchers be? I'm tempted to let her meet Joe, since he's one of the characters I love lots and lots, but some of the problems I mentioned in this story are very real here. Even if the Volturi, or any other vampires, are more aware of Immortals than the Cullens were, I doubt they'd like the idea of humans recording the histories of any Immortals, but vampires especially.**

**- How long with Methos make Bella stay away from the Cullens for their own safety?**

**- How long will it take Mac to accept the actual existence of vampires? Will he hold out till he actually meets one or will Bella and Methos be able to convince the stubborn Highlander?**

**- Will we be meeting the Volturi in this story? (I've already indicated that Methos knows about them, but how much does he know? **_**How**_** does he know? And do the Volturi know about Immortals, or not?)**

**- Will Victoria follow Bella and/or the Cullens to Europe? Or will she stalk the streets of Forks, etc. more along the lines of canon?**

**- And I freely acknowledge that I may've forgotten something else I alluded to or said outright in this chapter, since it took so long to write.**

**Any help anyone feels like offering will be very, very appreciated. And though, as I said before, I can't promise a deadline for updating, I will update as soon as I possibly can.**

**~ Jess S**

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**NOTES FROM IN THE CHAPTER:**

**[1] About Bella's initial reaction to Duncan and him 'looking like the heroes on the covers of romance novels;' well, he does! Or did…I haven't actually seen Adrian Paul in anything lately, but he's probably aged, since he's not actually immortal and Highlander stopped playing 13 years ago and he's now 52. Even in the show, if you go back and watch a Season 1 episode and then watch an episode from the sixth season, it's undeniable that he was aging. It was the same sort of thing they ran into with **_**Buffy the Vampire Slayer**_**, **_**Angel**_**, and probably ever other show where the characters were supposed to be un-aging. The actors/actresses themselves aren't immortal, and make-up can only do so much. But no one can deny that Duncan MacLeod looks exactly like most of the heroes on the covers of romance novels that are set in medieval times, etc. And anyone who's ever seen an actor/actress in-person can confess that if they're eye-candy on T.V., they look even better in person! Bella blushed at the littlest things in the Twilight series, so I figured having her be hit by an instant crush on Duncan when she met him wasn't unreasonable. Don't worry, she'll get over it: she already started to in this chapter, since he doesn't believe in vampires. Bit I thought it'd fit—and it was cute.**

**(2) I've been to Charles De Gaul Airport twice, both times while I was catching connecting flights that left shortly after I arrived. All I really remember about it is from the second visit, when I was headed home from Greece and it was a pain in the neck to run—literally run—across the airport to catch my plane to Boston because unlike the first time through (in route to Greece) they didn't want to hold the plane, despite the fact that the several hundred people that were running with me (also from the same late plane from Athens) were also headed for Boston, and the plane was going to leave over half empty of it's passengers… and I'm venting. Sorry. This was several years ago, but the airlines really bug me sometimes. That wasn't the first or last time I've run into a situation with them (them being any airline I've flown on) that didn't make any sense what so ever…though it was among the worst. I mean, there were at least three-hundred people running from and to the same terminal as me (I didn't count, but I saw the mostly empty plane when they finally made the pilot come back to the terminal so we could board, and it was full once all of us were on board). If the pilot had taken off without all of us, technically the airline would've had to put all of us up in Paris—that's what they do if you're catching a connecting flight from their airline and are coming from a late plane that's also part of their airline. I've been told they do that, too, even if your previous flight was from a different airline, but I don't know that for a fact…anyway, it was stupid, and it's one of the travel experiences that will probably always irritate me. The only one that was worse was when my parents and I were coming back from Mexico and catching a connecting flight in Atlanta. We got there as the plane was pulling away, and my mother had to bitch at the airline employee at the gate to make her make the Captain come back, and when he did, my family plus the old couple that'd also come from our plane were the only passengers the plane actually left with. All the others from our previous flight were left behind, and I kid you not, there were only five passengers on the whole plane: the stewardesses outnumbered us! It was ridiculous. **

**Okay…I'm done ranting about airlines now. Sorry.**

**Though, in recognition of the times I've had no trouble flying somewhere, I will say that not all airline employees are idiots or incompetent, and some are actually very nice people who are very good at their jobs.**

**Anyway, back to the actual point of this note: I don't know what **_**Charles De Gaul**_** looks like now, or what it would've looked like in 2005, since I only saw it in the summer of 2006. I researched it a bit, but still some of what I described for the brief times they were actually in the airports may very well be wrong. Sorry again.**

**[3] Paris Fashion Week is, according to Wikipedia, a very famous event held semi-annually with a Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter event each year. Wikipedia didn't give me exact time frames, and I don't really care, but it seemed in-character for Alice to know about it, so I used it.**

**And now I'm actually done with my Author's Notes. Congrats if you made it all the way here without skipping them.**

* * *

**Next****: **

_**Chapter 2: Training and Watching**_.

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


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